Local briefly

Published 10:54 pm Friday, August 10, 2007

ARLINGTON – A Snohomish County jury on Friday found an Arlington woman guilty of vehicular homicide in the 2004 death of a 17-year-old boy.

Cleora A. Swirtz, now 25, was behind the wheel of her father’s 2000 Pontiac Sunfire on Feb. 27, 2004, when she lost control, crossed the centerline and smashed into a tree. A black box device in the car recorded Swirtz driving 104 mph just before the collision.

Randall A. Frank, a passenger in the front seat, suffered fatal injuries. He died before he reached the hospital.

Swirtz was evaluated at Western State Hospital and eventually deemed competent to stand trial. She faces a little more than two years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 4.

“It’s a tragedy for everybody involved,” said Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Paul Stern.

Everett: Man charged with five felonies

An Everett man was charged on Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court with five felonies for his part in two armed carjackings and a high-speed police chase that ended in gunfire outside the Everett Mall and the Mill Creek Fred Meyer store.

Stewart Allan Compher, 31, and his alleged accomplice Eric M. Johnson II, 24, broke into an off-duty Everett police officer’s vehicle on July 20 and led police on a high-speed chase before carjacking a woman at gunpoint on the U.S. 2 trestle, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor John Adcock wrote in court records.

Johnson also was charged with two felonies on Friday.

Once in the stolen car, the men led police on a chase in and out of Everett for about 20 minutes and caused at least seven crashes, according to court documents.

Compher and Johnson eventually drove to the Everett Mall, where they knocked shoppers down to escape, Adcock wrote. Prosecutors allege that the pair tried to carjack a van outside the mall’s theater. That woman drove off and police caught up with Johnson outside the mall.

A Snohomish County sheriff’s lieutenant fired at Compher before he was able to carjack a truck, Adcock wrote.

Compher crashed outside the Mill Creek Fred Meyer store, raced through the store and was eventually shot twice as he tried to run into a wooded area behind the store, according to court documents. Police reported finding a gun next to Compher.

Mukilteo: Man faces child porn allegations

Police arrested a Mukilteo man, 58, Thursday for alleged possession of child pornography after the man’s daughter brought the photos to the attention of police.

The daughter, 27, found photos the man had apparently printed off the Internet and took them to police, according to court documents.

She told police the man had taught middle school and high school in Nevada, the documents said. The daughter apparently found photos of the man’s former students in a collage with nude photos, the documents said.

Police obtained a search warrant and found a thick folder filled with illegal photos, according to a police affidavit.

The man was being held for investigation of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, a felony. A judge ordered the man jailed in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Snohomish: Stranger gets into woman’s bed

A woman woke up Friday as a stranger broke into her apartment, got into her bed and started touching her, police said.

The woman, 20, screamed and the man fled, according to court documents.

The man, 31, was captured in a car near the apartment complex, the documents said. Police learned the man lived in the same building.

The woman was not physically harmed, the documents said.

The man was being held for investigation of residential burglary with sexual motivation and indecent liberties. A judge Friday set bail at $20,000 and banned the man from the apartment building.