Northwest Briefly: Missing Marine arrested in Port Angeles

Published 9:34 pm Sunday, November 16, 2008

BOULDER, Colo. — A Marine accused of faking his own disappearance to avoid returning to his unit was arrested Sunday in Port Angeles, and his father was arrested for investigation of aiding and abetting.

Acting on a tip from the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado, Port Angeles police arrested 23-year-old Lance Hering at the Port Angeles airport.

His father, Lloyd Hering, also was arrested.

Lance Hering, a lance corporal and Iraq war veteran, was on leave from Camp Pendleton, Calif., when he disappeared in 2006. At the time, Hering’s friend Steve Powers told authorities Hering was hurt in a rock-climbing accident near Boulder and wandered away while Powers went looking for help.

Burlington: Sons linked to burglary

Police say a 28-year-old man used his two young sons — 7 and 4 — to help him attempt to steal nearly $8,000 worth of goods from the Burlington Kmart.

Jesus Barragan of Sedro-Woolley has been charged in Skagit County Superior Court with second-degree burglary, first-degree theft and two counts of illegal possession of the drugs Clonazepam and Flexeril in the attempted burglary.

Police say when they arrived at the store, which was closed, at about 10 p.m. Tuesday, they found a van with its doors open and motor running parked in front of the front entrance. They say an automatic door to the store was open and they saw Barragan’s two sons with their arms loaded with merchandise. Later, Barragan gave himself up to police.

The father told officers he had recently lost his job and needed food to feed his children.

Port Orchard: Man arrested in assault

A 32-year-old Port Orchard motorist was booked into the Kitsap County Jail for investigation of reckless endangerment and fourth-degree assault after a large wrench was thrown at another vehicle.

The man is accused of throwing the wrench at the other vehicle Friday while driving on State Highway 16. The tool broke a vehicle’s driver’s-side window, showering glass inside the vehicle, and struck the driver in his left shoulder. But the Port Angeles man driving the vehicle wasn’t injured.

Chehalis: Teen not guilty in death

A teenager charged with controlled substance homicide in the death of the only son of Chehalis Mayor Tony Ketchum has been found not guilty.

Chris Carter was blamed for providing a prescription medication, hydromorphone, that 20-year-old Anthony E. Ketchum Jr. ingested before he was found dead at Carter’s home in September 2006.

There was no allegation of any intent that Ketchum would die, only that he did die from the drug.

In Lewis County Juvenile Court on Friday, Judge Richard L. Brosey found Carter, now 18, not guilty of the charge. But the judge but did find Carter guilty of delivery of a controlled substance.

Associated Press