Northwest Briefly: Man pleads guilty to killing his wife

Published 10:32 pm Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A man has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the stabbing of his wife in Bremerton.

Under a plea agreement, Kitsap County prosecutors wrote that they will recommend 27 years and nine months in prison for 27-year-old Michael Charles Cully.

He faces sentencing Sept. 16 for the death of 26-year-old Girlie Q. Weight. She was fatally stabbed while taking a shower at their home on March 24. Cully called police and initially denied he was responsible, but officers said he later confessed to the killing.

The couple had been married since June 2005.

Tacoma: Guilty plea in Indian cigarette case

The former operators of a Native American smoke shop have pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges for selling untaxed cigarettes.

Henry and Alison Gottfriedson were the primary operators of Frank’s Landing Indian Discount Tobacco near Olympia. The smoke shop was owned by the Frank’s Landing Indian Community, a small, independent Native American community outside the Nisqually Tribe’s reservation between Fort Lewis and Olympia.

The community ran the smoke shop without a state tobacco tax agreement until federal agents raided it last year. Typically, tribes that sell cigarettes have compacts with the state allowing their smoke shops to tax sales to non-Indians with the tax revenue going to the affected tribe.

Following the raid, Frank’s Landing struck a deal with the nearby Squaxin Island Tribe, which agreed to lease the smoke shop and share tax revenue for use on local projects. Gov. Chris Gregoire amended the state’s tobacco tax compact with the Squaxins to formalize the arrangement, and the shop reopened early this year as Skookum Creek Tobacco Co.

In an agreement announced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, the Gottfriedsons pleaded guilty to conspiracy and avoiding tax payments. The Gottfriedsons agreed to pay about $9.2 million in taxes and forfeit more than $1.5 million in cash seized by federal agents.

“They made a very conscious, deliberate choice to plead guilty and put this entire matter behind themselves and to put it behind the community,” said Steven Ungar, one of the Gottfriedsons’ lawyers.

The Gottfriedsons are scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 17.

Grayland: Human remains discovered

Decaying human remains have been found at a recreational vehicle park in Grayland, a resident has not been seen for days, and his girlfriend is being sought.

Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott said deputies went to check on 62-year-old Kenneth Hutchison on Tuesday. They found human remains in a package wrapped in plastic beneath his 30-foot mobile home. Scott said there are indications of dismemberment, and an autopsy is planned.

Deputies are seeking 59-year-old Sherry Hamm, who reportedly lived with Hutchison for 30 years. She had recently been convicted of assaulting his brother in neighboring Pacific County and was last seen Sunday night.

Other residents of the RV park told investigators she made comments indicating Hutchison may have met with foul play.

Oregon: Fine for illegal dumping

The operator of a bulk materials terminal at the Port of Portland has been fined $240,000 for arranging with a ship’s captain to dump a load of damaged fertilizer at sea.

U.S. District Judge Garr King sentenced Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals Inc. Wednesday after it pleaded guilty to a felony count of violating the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act.

According to court documents, the Louisiana company was loading 160 metric tons of potash from Canada on a ship bound for Japan in August 2003 when inspectors found it had gotten wet and was commercially useless.

Rather than dispose of it legally, which would have cost about $80,000, a supervisor paid the captain of the J/A Alladin Dream II to dump it at sea for $1,250, authorities said.

@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:Police say two drivers attacked bicyclist

Two Wilsonville men were arrested on assault charges after a confrontation with a bicyclist in Tualatin.

Police said the two men, Armando Manning, 19, and Michael Pellissier, 26, got out of their truck and assaulted Beaverton resident Uriel Ortega, 33, who was cycling on a suburban road Tuesday.

According to police reports, Manning and Pellissier had been heckling Ortega, and eventually climbed out of their truck to confront him. Ortega tried to defend himself, punching Manning in the face, and a fight broke out.

Manning and Pellissier were taken to the Washington County Jail; they will also face charges of reckless driving and criminal mischief.

Police said witnesses helped treat Ortega’s injuries, and track down the two drivers.

Idaho: Man held in shooting death

A 20-year-old man is being held in the fatal shooting of a young couple near Wallace, and Shoshone County Sheriff Charles “Chuck” Reynalds said he has confessed.

Reynalds said Wednesday that Jon Allen “Bubba” Kienholz Jr. was in custody. Kienholz had been sought in the death of 20-year-old Neil Howard and 18-year-old Cynthia Bewick, and Reynalds said he confessed.

A second person who may be involved has been found in Boise.

A motive is unknown, but Reynalds said Howard, Bewick and Kienholz reportedly were involved in drugs.

Howard’s body was found Friday morning by a huckleberry picker in a remote area near the top of Dobson Pass, and Bewick’s body was found by deputies nearby. Both had been shot in the head.

Their 9-month-old baby is with Bewick’s family.