Police looking for NIC rape suspect
A rapist who disguised himself as a woman and waited for his victim in a North Idaho College restroom is being sought by police.
The attack reportedly happened Jan. 30 and was reported to campus security Friday morning, a week later, according to a notice on the Coeur d’Alene college’s Web site.
The victim said her assailant waited in the first-floor women’s bathroom of the Meyer Health Science Building and raped her when she arrived about 4 p.m., according to the Web site.
The victim told officials that she knows the assailant, but his name hasn’t been released.
The reported assailant, not an NIC student, is described as white, age 48, 6 feet tall, 190 to 200 pounds, with brown or auburn hair.
Spokane
Second suspect in stabbing found
The man wanted in connection with a stabbing of an off-duty Spokane police officer two weeks ago was arrested Friday night.
Gyles “Shannon” Dogskin, 23, faces a charge of first-degree rendering criminal assistance after police say he ran away with the knife that Kenneth J. Kheel, 19, is accused of using to stab Sgt. Brad Thoma on Jan. 23.
Thoma was leaving the Steam Plant Grill that night with his fiancee, Spokane Police Officer Amy Ross, and a friend when the three were confronted by Kheel and Dogskin, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
Kheel allegedly stabbed Thoma in the face with a knife and was arrested, but Dogskin fled with the weapon, according to the sheriff’s office.
He was arrested about 7 p.m. Friday at the Maplehurst Apartments, 405 S. Maple St., by officers acting on a tip, according to a news release.
Dogskin was booked into the Spokane County Jail, where Kheel remains on a first-degree assault charge with bond set at $50,000.
Thoma was treated and released from a hospital and is back at work.
Reward offered in OxyContin theft
The company that makes OxyContin, Purdue Pharma LP, is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information that helps capture suspected pharmacy robber Richard T. Ludvik.
Ludvik, 23, is accused of robbing Walgreens at 2830 S. Grand Blvd. with a knife on Jan. 21.
According to court papers, police think he also may be responsible for a robbery 10 days earlier at Walgreens at 15510 E. Sprague Ave. in Spokane Valley, but investigators haven’t named him as a suspect in the serial payday loan robberies since Jan. 20 or the OxyContin robbery at ShopKo in north Spokane this week.
Also Friday, Spokane police released information on a fifth pharmacy robbery in January. A gunman wearing a black and white baseball cap robbed the Rite Aid at 810 E. 29th Ave. of OxyContin Jan. 24.
Anyone with information on that robbery or the suspected serial robber is asked to call (509) 242-TIPS.
Anyone with information on Ludvik’s whereabouts should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS or submit tips online at crimestoppersinland northwest.org.
Judge dismisses child custody case
Responding to a Washington Supreme Court ruling this week, a Spokane judge agreed Friday to dismiss a bitter child custody case that sent a young Spokane boy to Montana foster parents – but left a window for further appeals.
The high court on Thursday reversed Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno, ordering her to void her 2004 ruling. The court said she had no jurisdiction because the Montana Supreme Court had ruled in 2001 to return Angelo Cork, 11, to his mother, Holly Cork.
Attorney David Crouse said he’ll file a motion for reconsideration and also file in Montana in an effort to keep the child with David Nagel and Anita Bangert, of Helena.
Cork’s lawyer, Andrea Poplawski, argued Moreno should dismiss the custody case immediately because future litigation could keep Angelo from his mother for years.
Moreno said the long-running custody battle has been a “nightmare.”
“My gut says this is not right,” she added.
Sex offender moves to Altamont
A sex offender has moved to the 7100 block of North Altamont in north Spokane, and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office wants citizens to be aware.
Michael J. Flachmeyer, 39, is a level 3 sex offender, the classification considered most likely to reoffend. He was convicted of first-degree child molestation in 1995, and his victim was a 2-year-old family friend he was baby-sitting, according to the sheriff’s office.
He enrolled in the sexual offender sentencing alternative program but “continued placing himself in risky situations” and was sent to prison until November 2001, the sheriff’s office said.
Flachmeyer is not wanted by authorities, but the sheriff’s office wants the public to be aware of his presence.
Spokane Valley
Woman’s caretaker arrested for theft
A caretaker for the elderly was arrested Friday on suspicion of stealing more than $45,000 in jewelry, cash and gift cards from a client.
Kari E. Brown, 46, of Spokane Valley, faces charges of trafficking in stolen property after police say she pawned a gold and diamond wedding ring stolen from an 85-year-old Spokane woman.
Brown helped the woman as part of her job with At Home Care, according to a search warrant filed Friday in Spokane County District Court.
A company representative declined comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
A detective found the wedding ring at the Double Eagle Pawn shop Thursday, where a database showed Brown had sold it for $20 on Jan. 27, according to the search warrant. A search of Brown’s home found more jewelry belonging to the victim, records show.
Brown is at Geiger Corrections Center on $10,000 bond.
Pullman
Fire department likely caused blaze
Pullman firefighters likely caused a fire early Friday in a house they had been using for training just hours earlier.
The fire department said in a news release that the blaze was suspicious because it was burning in a part of the house that hadn’t been used in the training exercise. Later, the department said an ember from the training fires could have sparked the new blaze at 1530 Stadium Way.
“Following a room-by-room search by (fire prevention office Rich) Dragoo and fire training officer George Brown, Dragoo determined that something as small as an ember in a ceiling support beam, giving changing air currents, would have been enough to rekindle the fire from earlier in the day,” the final news release said.
The experience will help Dragoo teach firefighters to “make sure that all embers are extinguished before leaving a structure,” the release said.