TACOMA — Police have arrested a man accused of forcing two teenage girls into a car at gunpoint and trying to force them to work as prostitutes.
The 41-year-old man was booked into the Pierce County Jail early Tuesday for investigation of kidnapping, assault and promoting prostitution.
Police say the man and another man contacted the girls, ages 14 and 17, Monday night near a Tacoma convenience store and asked them if they wanted a ride. They declined and walked away.
Police spokesman Mark Fulghum say the men displayed guns a few minutes later and forced the girls into the car. They drove to the Kent-Des Moines area, where the men tried to force them to work as prostitutes. They declined. The car returned to Tacoma where the girls fled. Fulghum says the girls suffered minor injuries.
The News Tribune
Seattle: Search ends for bridge jumper
A Seattle police harbor patrol boat has suspended the search for a woman who stopped her car in the middle of the I-90 floating bridge and jumped into Lake Washington.
Seattle Police spokesman Mark Jamieson says choppy water made the search impossible.
He says police were notified about the incident about 12:45 Tuesday by the Washington State Patrol. There was no one left with the car that had stopped in the eastbound lanes.
The emergency response tied up bridge traffic, so the Transportation Department opened the I-90 express eastbound lanes to all traffic for about an hour.
Associated Press
@3. Headline Briefs 14 no:Bush budget includes $100M for rail tunnel
The Bush administration is pledging $100 million to help Sound Transit build a light-rail line from downtown Seattle to the University of Washington.
The money is part of the president’s budget request announced this week. The plan, which needs congressional approval, would help the Seattle-based transit agency pay for a 3.2-mile, $1.8 billion underground line to open by the end of 2016.
Groundbreaking is expected later this year for the project, which the Federal Transit Administration has given its highest rating.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the president’s decision was a good sign the government will continue to be a partner on the light-rail line.
Associated Press
Fort Lewis: Military police welcomed home
Fort Lewis formally welcomed a unit of military police home from Iraq with a flag uncasing ceremony Monday at the Army base.
The 150 soldiers in the 571st Military Police Company had arrived Jan. 21 after a 15-month deployment. Four members were killed and at least 27 others were wounded.
The MPs helped control Baqouba, capital of Diyala province, which is northeast of Baghdad and a former insurgent stronghold.
The company trained more than 6,100 Iraqi police, supported nine combat operations and managed more than $10.2 million in contracts to construct and improve Iraqi police stations in the province.
Associated Press
Kent: Ashes cause fire that burns deck, home
The Kent Fire Department says fireplace ashes that were placed in a cardboard box and left on a deck started a fire that caused an estimated $660,000 in damage.
Six residents — four adults and two children — safely escaped about midnight Monday from the home.
The fire was reported by neighbors who heard propane tanks on the deck exploding.
It took firefighters about an hour to control the fire.
Associated Press
Port Orchard: Man steals from pharmacy
Police are investigating a Monday night robbery at a pharmacy in which a suspect made off with prescription drugs from an Albertsons pharmacy.
Witnesses said a man handed a pharmacy attendant a note that indicated he had a gun and that he wanted OxyContin and methadone.
The suspect, who received a “small amount” of both medications, then fled the store and got into the passenger side of an older red Jeep Wrangler with a black soft top, police said.
The suspect is described as a 19- to 25-year-old male, about 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 5 inches tall, and 110 to 120 pounds. He was described as “petite” and “feminine-looking,” police added. He was wearing a gray waist-length jacket with white and black stripes on the undersides of both sleeves, a dark blue stocking cap, and black ski gloves. He was also wearing small gold hoop earrings in both ears.
Kitsap Sun
Spokane: Mistakenly freed inmate caught
Spokane police have caught an inmate who was mistakenly released from the Geiger Corrections Center.
The sheriff’s office says a tip led officers to a home Tuesday where they arrested 52-year-old Darnell Riley and returned him to jail on drug charges.
He had been released Jan. 25 after another inmate with a similar name posted bail.
Associated Press
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