No theft charges in sale of boa

Theft charges will not be filed against a Coeur d’Alene man who sold an 8-foot red tail boa he’d agreed to watch for the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department.

The saga of the snake began when a Post Falls woman found the reptile in her yard nearly two months ago.

The Sheriff’s Department asked for the public’s help finding the snake’s owner, but when no one stepped forward, authorities gave it to Matt Harrington, 36, for safekeeping. He named it Hercules.

Authorities later discovered Harrington sold Hercules on Craigslist to a Spokane man for $250. They asked the prosecutor’s office to charge him with felony grand theft, but Chief Deputy Prosecutor Marty Raap declined last week.

The legal definition of theft involves intentionally and wrongfully depriving another person of property, and this case doesn’t meet that standard, he said.

“He didn’t just break into a police station and steal a snake,” Raap said.

Spokane

Skating tickets available Friday

Weekend ticket packages go on sale Friday for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane in January 2010.

“A lot of people who travel here are looking for weekend deals, because they can’t go for 10 days at a time,” said Barb Beddor, of Star USA, the event organizer. Three packages are available: the men’s and pairs weekend package (Jan. 14-17); the women’s and ice dancing weekend package (Jan. 21-23); and a package that combines the two. They cost from $275 to $525.

The men’s and pairs package does not include a ticket to the Exhibition of Champions on Jan. 24, but the two other packages do.

An all-event ticket package, which does not include the Exhibition of Champions, costs $595.

“In ’07 nobody could pick their seats in advance. With the packages you can,” said Beddor.

For more information, go to www.spokane2010.com or call (888) SK8-2010.