Court Report

Sheriff's Report

INCIDENT LOG

Editor’s note: Most items in this section reflect the starting point for response by local police and emergency agencies. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office does not release names of individuals who report possible criminal or suspicious activities to dispatchers or alleged victims for this column.

Monday, Nov. 23: An electrical outage was reported in Sprague.

A motorist advised dispatchers that her vehicle struck a large piece of glass near the city shop in the vicinity of Twelfth and Morgan streets in Davenport. A state Department of Transportation crew was requested to do the cleanup work.

Odessa Police investigated a threatening letter received by a resident who had shot a dog believed involved in the killing of two goats on property adjacent to SR 21 on Nov. 19.

Tuesday, Nov. 24: A Reardan man reported a 1,500-gallon poly tank and a tractor-fed post hole digger were missing from property in the 3700 block of North Moore Road.

A collision involving a vehicle and deer was reported on SR 25 about eight miles north of Davenport.

Deputies investigated a possible Craigslist scam involving hay and an Odessa caller.

Three women were involved in a physical altercation in the 300 block of NE Foster in Creston. One of them was taken to jail on an assault charge.

Wilbur Police investigated a possible break-in at a garage in the 200 block of NW Cliff.

Wednesday, Nov. 25: Damage to a vehicle resulted in a collision on SR 28 near Coal Coulee Road in the Harrington area.

The Keller ferry was reported to be out-of-service with engine problems. It was running again the next day.

Davenport ambulance personnel assisted an 89-year-old man with possible heart problems.

A caller reported the theft of a quantity of fuel additive valued at about $40 from the Todd Anderson Excavation facility on Bennett Road east of Davenport.

Deputies responded to a one-vehicle rollover collision on Doerschlag Road between Soden and Bourne roads near Sprague. They found the vehicle down an embankment about 50 feet from the roadway.

Responding to the 400 block of West 5th in Sprague, deputies investigated a reported assault during which a woman was hit in the face and choked. A man was transported to jail.

Deputies began a narcotics investigation after drugs were found in a vehicle that was removed from an impound lot and returned to the Sprague area.

A traffic collision involving Lincoln Hospital employees occurred in the parking lot near the emergency room entrance.

Thursday, Nov. 26: A caller said he discovered four de-breasted geese and possible deer guts along Marlin Road.

A Sprague man filed a report of a traffic collision with no injuries reported.

An icy roadway was believed to be a factor in a vehicle rollover on Devils Gap Road about a mile east of SR 231 north of Reardan that left three occupants injured. Emergency personnel from Reardan, Edwall, Davenport and the Spokane Tribe assisted a MedStar aerial ambulance crew in transporting two patients to a Spokane hospital. A seven-year-old boy was pinned by the right arm and had to be extricated. The driver had back pain and was bleeding from her head.

Deputies investigated a report that items had been removed from a storage unit on Stagecoach Lane North.

A caller reported the theft of an air hose, air compressor parts and an engine from a hay shed in the Marlin area.

A caller told dispatchers that two cougars had “attempted to get (his) mother” at a residence on Miles Creston Road before going under the deck of the house. The matter was referred to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. The next day, in what possibly could be a related incident, two cougars were discovered in a driveway in the 48000 block of Hillside Drive North in the Davenport area.

Friday, Nov. 27: Malfunctioning railroad crossing arms were reported on Bell and Brace streets in Wilbur.

A Teel Hill Road property owner reported two vehicles, possibly occupied by hunters, were there without permission on the land north of Davenport. A responding deputy located the persons involved, explained the property boundaries and gave a warning.

A couple of muzzleloader hunters were discovered on property near Crab Creek and Downs Road North without permission from the owner.

A Sprague man reported the theft of tools from a shop in the 200 block of North F Street.

Emergency personnel assisted a 86-year-old man who fell and hurt his head in the 1400 block of Morgan Street in Davenport.

Responding to a phoned-in report of a possible burglary in progress at a residence on Crescent Road North near Reardan, deputies discovered everything secure, but that a water pipe had broken in an outbuilding, shooting water all over the electrical vault.

Checking on loud banging in the county jail, corrections deputies found an inmate had been punching the walls and bloodied up his cell.

Saturday, Nov. 28: Reardan firefighters were sent to the vicinity of SR 231 and Fisher Road, from which flames had been seen by a caller who originally phoned Stevens County authorities.

A caller observed two cougars, possibly those that deputies and state wildlife officers had tracked since Thursday, sitting by a chicken coop on property adjacent to Sunday Bay Road. Responding deputies killed one of the animals, but the other was on the move.

Deputies placed a man into custody after he allegedly eluded a traffic stop after being clocked at speeds of more than 80 miles per hour through Davenport.

Deputies investigated a possible sex offense in the county.

Sunday, Nov. 29: A Wilbur woman advised dispatchers that she and her kids had luckily just left the local sledding hill (NE Main Street) before a white minivan drove down the roadway at more than 40 miles per hour and “could have killed someone.”

Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad personnel dealt with a track grinder that had thrown sparks near Interstate 90 in the Sprague area.

JAIL BOOKINGS

Nov. 23: Robert F. Tucker, 50, Spokane, arrested by Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) for no ignition interlock and driving while license suspended.

Nov. 24: Margaret A. Bouchard, 60, Davenport, booked by LCSO for first-degree theft and released.

Phillip M. Wilson, 48, Omak, arrested by Reardan Police for failing to appear for driving while license suspended.

Breanna L. Johns, 28, Creston, arrested by LCSO for fourth-degree assault.

Lindsey I. Shovell, 34, Rice, Wash., arrested by LCSO for first-degree theft and third-degree possession of stolen property.

Nov. 25: KC Kimberling, 32, Sprague, arrested by LCSO for fourth-degree assault (domestic violence).

Randi M. Andrew, 32, Wellpinit, arrested by LCSO for failing to appear for driving while license suspended.

David J. Arnst, 19, Spokane, arrested by LCSO for failing to appear for minor in possession.

Nov. 27: Guy H. Hawks, 44, Veradale, Wash., confined five days by the court for residential burglary.

Nov. 28: Donnie W. Snow, 49, East Wenatchee, Wash., arrested by LCSO for attempting to elude law enforcement.

Lionel Zarate, 52, Sprague, arrested by LCSO on a Yakima County warrant for assault and malicious mischief.

Thomas H.S. Ellison, 28, Sprague, arrested by LCSO on an out-of-county warrant for third-degree theft.

Justus W. Snyder, 38, Worley, Idaho, arrested by LCSO for driving under the influence.

Clinton A. Conant, 28, Coulee Dam, arrested by LCSO for no ignition interlock and driving while license suspended.

Nov. 29: Andrew J. Theis, 41, Davenport, arrested by LCSO for no ignition interlock and driving while license suspended.

Katie A. Joseph, 28, Nespelem, arrested by LCSO for driving while license suspended.

Nov. 30: Brandon J. Anderson, 36, Spokane Valley, arrested by Reardan Police for failing to appear for driving while license suspended (two counts), second-degree trafficking in stolen property, and second-degree theft.

From Nov. 24 to 30, 12 inmates from outside Lincoln County were held in the county jail under contract with the Washington State Department of Corrections.

Court Report

SUPERIOR COURT

John F. Strohmaier, Judge

Criminal Disposition Modification

Restitution payments by Gurbachan Singh, 42, Wilbur, were reduced on Nov. 20 to $100 per month for the time being after he demonstrated to the court that he is earning $1,209.54 against $1,086.46 in monthly expenses. After pleading guilty in July to amended charges of first- and second-degree theft and unlawful issuance of bank checks, he was ordered to make four monthly payments of $1,500, then $400 per month beginning Nov. 1, towards $564.80 in court costs and restitution of $74,559.79 to Whitley Fuel in Okanogan, Wash., $5,360.99 to Doyles Wholesale in Hayden, Idaho, and $2,100 to Ajit Nagra of Spokane (Food Mart owner) to cover a camera security system. He also was sentenced to three months in the county jail. The case involves the Sept. 9, 2013, sudden closure of the then-Davenport Food Mart – and Singh’s disappearance – after glue had been used to disable credit card readers on the fuel pumps, forcing patrons to pay cash or use a card reader he was suspected of setting up inside the store for his own purposes. After almost two years outside the U.S., he was apprehended last April in Seattle while attempting to reenter the country and returned to Davenport.

Criminal Sentencings

Dori Kay Hawks, 50, Veradale, Wash., entered an Alford plea (acknowledging evidence was sufficient for conviction) on Nov. 24 to first-degree criminal trespass (amended through plea negotiations from residential burglary, three counts of second-degree burglary, and third-degree theft) in connection with an April 8, 2014, incident at property in the Harrington area. Her sentence includes five days electronic home monitoring, 12 months community custody, $700 court costs and sharing with co-defendant Guy Harold Hawks, 44, payment of $822 restitution to the property owners.

Guy Harold Hawks, 44, Veradale, Wash., entered an Alford plea (acknowledging evidence was sufficient for conviction) on Nov. 24 to one count of second-degree attempted burglary (amended through plea negotiations from residential burglary, three counts of second-degree burglary, and third-degree theft) in connection with an April 8, 2014, incident at property in the Harrington area. His sentence includes five days in the county jail, six months community custody, $800 court costs and sharing with co-defendant Dori Kay Hawks, 50, payment of $822 restitutions to the property owners.

Civil Judgment

Jesse (Jess) Q. Baum, doing business as The Tree Wisperer in Edwall, must pay a total of $8,190 in unpaid construction compliance penalties to the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries.

New Criminal Case

Scott Anthony Smith, 47, Davenport, is charged with two counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, reckless endangerment (“creating substantial risk of death or serious injury” to the alleged victim) and making false and/or misleading statements to law enforcement in connection with a Nov. 16 dispute on property adjacent to Johns Rocky Way. The alleged victim told deputies that while operating a four-wheeler and looking for a missing horse, he believed at least two shots from a high-powered rifle were fired in his direction from about 75 to 100 yards away.

New Civil Case

In a case involving a Nov. 20, 2012, two-vehicle collision on SR 174 about three miles northwest of Wilbur, petitioner Nicole L. McMechan, of British Columbia, Canada, alleges negligence by the two drivers, Douglas Matthews, also of British Columbia, and Joshua (and “Jane Doe”) Grant, residents of Lincoln County. The petitioner, a passenger in the Matthews vehicle, claims that the Grant vehicle was partially blocking the westbound lane without its lights on just before the collision. She seeks unspecified damages for injuries she suffered.

DISTRICT COURT

Dan B. Johnson, Judge

The court was on Thanksgiving break last week.

MARRIAGE DISSOLUTIONS

Lincoln County Clerk’s Office

New filings: 10 involving persons living outside Lincoln County.

Property Transactions

Lincoln County Treasurer’s Office

Patricia I. (Earley) Douglas (personal representative, estate of Frances I. Douglas), Liberty Lake, to Patricia I. Douglas, Liberty Lake, Lots 6-10, inclusive, Blk. 2, Original Town of Almira, subject to easements, $0.

Albert James Reiha (trustee, Reiha Revocable Trust), Spokane Valley, to Albert James Reiha, Spokane Valley, portion of Sec. 36, T23N, R38E; and portion of Secs. 30-32, T23N, R39E, $0.

Wells Fargo Bank, Fort Mill, S.C., to U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Oklahoma City, Okla., Lots 11 and 12, Blk. 19, Town of Harrington, $0.

Sharon D. McBride (personal representative, estate of Donald F. McBride), Mead, to Sharon D. McBride, Mead, Lot 12, Deer Meadows Tracts, Plat No. 2, $0.

Harley McLaughlin and Gladys McLaughlin, Seven Bays, to Seth Nelson and Jamie Nelson, Seven Bays, Lot 38, Blk. 1, Airport Addition to Seven Bays, $52,300.

Arne L. Seim and Rebecca L. Seim, Reardan, to Benjamin Baker and Ruth Baker, Renton, Wash., portion of Sec. 21, T25N, R39E, $27,500.

Dennis G. Maier and Betty L. Maier, Wilbur, to Tammy Kay Linden, Seattle, Debora K. Kulm, Lind, and Michael J. Maier, Spokane, Lot 7, Blk. 1, Lakeview Subdivision First Addition, Wilbur, and 28x40 manufactured home, $0.

Paul Reynolds (trustee, David Galland Testamentary Trust), Spangle, Wash., to Karen Anderson, Reardan, portion of Sec. 35, T27N, R39E, $77,000.

Lynn R. Barnett and Marlene E. Barnett, Tacoma, to David J. Hatton and Sheila S. Hatton, Bothell, Wash., Lot 1, Lone Pine Short Plat, $89,000.

Karen Mae Ertz (formerly Wilson), Almira, to Rocky Boutain and Victoria Boutain, Almira, north 40 feet of east 24 feet of Lot 6, north 40 feet of west 24 feet of Lot 7, east 2 feet of Lot 7, and north 37 feet of Lots 8-10, Blk. 13, Original Addition, Town of Almira, $9,060.

Leigh Buckner Murchie and Janice Kay Murchie (trustees, Murchie Revocable Living Trust), Loomis, Calif., to Steven J. Boss, Forest Grove, Ore., Lots 2 and 3, Blk. 18, Finney’s Addition to the Town of Odessa, $8,000.

Fredric B. Wilson and Marilyn J. Wilson, Phoenix, Ariz., to Seth C. Nelson and Jamie M. Nelson, Seven Bays, Lot 14, Blk. 3, Plat 4, Seven Bays, portion of Sec. 12, T27N, R35E; and 2006 Palm Harbor manufactured home, $275,000.