SEATTLE – The owner of a Marysville baseball-card shop has been indicted on charges he ran guns to Canada.
The case marks the second time Jason D. Smith of Stanwood has been in trouble with federal officials lately. In May, he was arrested along with a longtime Canadian border agent, Atlaf Merali, in an alleged conspiracy to smuggle marijuana.
Smith pleaded guilty in that case and had been released pending sentencing when agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they caught him trafficking in guns.
They arrested him in September after a confidential informant delivered a box of 21 handguns and an Uzi to his shop, A Bit of the Past, according to papers filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Smith told the informant that the serial numbers of the guns would be removed in Canada and they would be sold to marijuana growers and outlaw bikers, the agents said.
Associated Press
Spokane: Diploma issuers out on bond
The alleged kingpins of a phony diploma operation that has federal investigators concerned about its possible use by terrorists have been granted bail.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno agreed Wednesday to release Dixie E. and Steven K. Randock Sr. on bond, but banned them from using the Internet for anything but a real estate licensing venture.
The Randocks were indicted Oct. 5 on charges of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and money laundering stemming from an alleged scheme to sell academic degrees online for bogus universities.
Federal investigators contend that half the phony degrees sold by “Saint Regis University,” “Robertstown University” and “James Monroe University” went to overseas purchasers, many of whom were “students” from Saudi Arabia.
The buyers could have used their fraudulent college degrees to apply to legally gain entry into the United States, the investigators contend, raising potential terrorism and homeland security issues.
Associated Press
Prosser: Commissioner fined in skunk shooting
The stink over a skunk shooting at the Benton County Courthouse has been lifted by a plea agreement.
County Commissioner Max Benitz Jr. was fined $268 Wednesday after pleading guilty to discharging a firearm in public, a gross misdemeanor under municipal ordinances.
Yakima County District Judge Donald Engel, who heard the case to avoid a conflict of interest, also agreed to spare Benitz from going to jail and to allow the conviction to be removed from his record if he stays out of trouble for one year.
Benitz was facing a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Benitz said he got his .22-caliber rifle and dispatched the skunk Aug. 11 after the animal control officer in this south-central Washington town and four private trappers refused to do anything about the animal, which had holed up and was spraying its scent in a recess of an outer wall at the courthouse.
Associated Press
Olympia: Troopers told to write more tickets
Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste has directed troopers to issue more speeding tickets instead of warnings.
In a directive Wednesday cited by the Yakima Herald-Republic, Batiste wrote that traffic accidents across the state have increased by 4 percent this year and speeding was a factor most of the time.
“Our troopers exercise discretion when stopping speeders; however, we need to send a stronger message that speeding is dangerous and costing lives,” he wrote.
Up to now, about 44 percent of the drivers who have been stopped for exceeding the speed limit have been ticketed, and the rest got verbal or written warnings, patrol figures indicate.
Batiste’s directive did not indicate how many more speeding tickets should be issued, but he added that the patrol plans to work with the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission to improve compliance with speed limits.
Associated Press
Seattle: Body found near UW Greek row
A 24-year-old man has been found dead near the University of Washington’s Greek row, police said.
A student found the body in some bushes about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday on the northern edge of the campus near Hansee Hall, university Assistant Police Chief Raymond Wittmier said.
The man appeared to be a transient, Wittmier said.
There were no visible signs of trauma, and an autopsy to determine the cause of death was pending, he said.
Associated Press
Redmond: Backcountry ski pioneer dies in fall
A Northwest man regarded as one of the world’s best backcountry ski photographers died in a skiing accident in Argentina, his family said.
Carl Warren Skoog, 46, was descending the steep southern face of 22,210-foot Mount Mercedario in the Argentine Andes with longtime ski partner Rene Crawshaw of Chilliwack, B.C., Oct. 17 when he slipped on a 42-degree slope and fell 4,500 feet.
“It wasn’t extremely dangerous,” Crawshaw said. “He just fell somehow, and he just couldn’t get his ice pick in to stop him.”
Skoog’s work has been published in numerous magazines, including Skiing, Powder and Backcountry. On Wednesday, Backcountry’s Web site posted the nine cover shots Skoog had taken for the magazine, along with a tribute.
Associated Press
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