Bomb squad brought in to check box at bank

A suspicious box shut down the Liberty Lake Bank of America Monday morning while police brought in the bomb squad to examine the item.

The toolbox was found to contain wires and electronic equipment and was likely left behind by maintenance workers, said Police Chief Brian Asmus. The bank reopened at 11:30 a.m. that day.

The box was discovered Monday morning in the bank foyer and had not been there when the bank closed on Saturday. Liberty Lake police officers responded to the scene and called in a K-9 unit to sniff the box for explosives. The local bomb squad then arrived to X-ray the box and declared it safe, Asmus said. The bank was evacuated during the incident.

The remainder of the week stretching from Nov. 17 to Nov. 24 was considerably calmer. A father and son, both of Liberty Lake, were arrested on felony drug charges on Nov. 23. Jesse D. Andres, 21, was charged with possession of heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia. Richard D. Andres, 48, was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia in addition to being wanted a felony warrant for escape for community custody.

Other arrests during the week included four for driving with a suspended license and one for driving under the influence. A local business also filed a fraud complaint reporting that a company tried to charge them for unauthorized advertising.

Police officers issued eight citations for failure to show liability insurance, three for violating the 14-hour rule, two for failure to obey a traffic control device, six for speeding and two for failure to wear a safety belt. Additional citations were handed out for license and plates required, overloading licensed capacity, violating intermediate license restrictions, driving without lights when required, defective brakes, defective muffler, exceeding width limit, failure to stop at a red light, failure to obey a lane control device, failure to yield entering road from a driveway, failure to move left for approaching emergency vehicle, failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, prohibited turn and failure to use a child restraint.

The department conducted 11 commercial vehicle inspections and responded to calls for property theft and traffic accidents.