In brief: Driver charged with felony DUI

A man who injured a sheriff’s deputy in a drunken crash nine years ago has been charged with felony driving under the influence for an incident last week in Spokane Valley, officials said Tuesday.

James L. Crabtree, a local real estate agent who worked as a Spokane County sheriff’s deputy in the 1980s, was arrested Nov. 17 after motorists told officials he appeared to be passed out at the wheel at East Broadway Avenue and North Pines Road.

A deputy smelled alcohol on Crabtree’s breath and found an open container of Four Loko in his car, a caffeinated alcoholic beverage now banned in Washington.

Crabtree, 49, acknowledged he had drunk two beers and had a blood-alcohol level of .065, according to court documents. The legal limit for driving is .08. Crabtree was sentenced to five years in prison in 2003 for vehicular assault after a drunken crash that nearly killed a deputy. He was again convicted of drunken driving in 2007.

Washington law allows for drunken driving suspects with prior convictions for vehicular homicide or vehicular assault while under the influence to be charged with a felony. Crabtree is to be arraigned Nov. 30.

Diabetics sought for WSU study

Washington State University is recruiting diabetics with a risk of heart disease to participate in new drug trials in Spokane.

The program will be operated from WSU’s Spokane campus. Participants will have frequent meetings with medical staff, guidance on nutrition and exercise, and access to new or investigational drugs. Participants may be paid for time and travel expenses.

The studies will be under the direction of Dr. Carol H. Wysham, an endocrinologist at Rockwood Clinic and a research professor at WSU’s College of Pharmacy, and assistant professor Joshua Neumiller.

Call Debra Weeks at (509) 358-7733, or Shannon Yedinak at (509) 358-7729 for more information.

Man sentenced for child porn

A Canadian computer technician who illegally entered the United States with a laptop computer containing child pornography has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison.

Scott Andrew Henry, 25, will be on probation for 10 years after he leaves prison. He pleaded guilty in September to possession of sexually explicit images of minors and was sentenced Monday.

Henry illegally entered the United States near Bonners Ferry in May after cutting through a wire fence and driving his car through. Border agents found him with a red Dodge Neon on Boundary Creek Bridge east of the Porthill, Idaho, entry.

Investigators found more than 57,000 images of child pornography on his computer.

Henry has a prior felony conviction for fraud and has several forgery charges pending in New York state, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.