Courthouse watch: 7.22.09

Tom E. Snell, 24, appeared before Judge Ellen Kalama Clark via video. Rachel Sterrett represented the state, but Snell didn’t have a lawyer and Clark agreed to postpone the arraignment until August 4 at 10:30 .am.

Snell was arrested July 10 and accused of robbing the Rite Aid drugstore at 29th Avenue and Regal Street of OxyContin on July 6.

Witnesses identified the robber’s getaway car as a blue Toyota pickup, and a tip based on a news report led police to 7th Avenue and Adams Street, according to search warrant.

There, they found a truck matching the description from the robbery. It was registered to Snell in Nine Mile Falls, according to a search warrant. Snell is in jail on $30,000 bail; $5,000 is for a separate charge of third-degree organized retail theft.

Spokane’s surge in OxyContin -related crime continued this week with a home invasion that saw two men steal OxyContin and hydrocodone from a 54-year-old woman.

On Saturday, a man tried robbing the same Rite Aid that Snell’s charged with robbing.

Read a story on those incidents here.