Dear readers:
I’m out of the office this week, and Stacey’s still on maternity leave.
That means this blog may be a little dark and quiet for a while (some of our colleagues have the ability to post here, but they seldom do).
Things should pick up again the first week of September when I return to duty and – let the pigeons loose! – Stacey comes back to work as well.
Have a good week, and thanks for reading.
Perhaps you saw this news update Thursday.
Law enforcement sources tell Lights & Sirens Tacoma police busted him Friday afternoon after receiving a tip from the public.
Way to go public!
Thomas Law is back in town.
Looks like he was booked into the Pierce County Jail about 3 p.m. Thursday, according to the jail roster.
He’s to be arraigned today at 1:30 p.m.
Law, you’ll recall, is the third person charged in last weekend’s shooting outside Rudy’s Restaurant & Lounge on Tacoma’s East Side. He apparently hopped a bus shortly after the violence and was headed east when the authorities caught up with him in Kansas City, Mo., earlier this week.
He’s charged with being an accomplice to first-degree murder and first-degree assault.
I’m
…Danny Driscoll called the other day.
He operates Rudy’s Pub & Grill at 7505 Steilacoom Blvd. S.W. in Lakewood. Driscoll said he’s gotten calls in the last few days from concerned patrons, saying they’d heard there was a shooting outside Rudy’s.
“They want to know if everything’s OK,” Driscoll said.
Rest assured they are.
The shooting in question occurred outside Rudy’s Restaurant and Lounge at 6324 E. McKinley Ave. on the East Side of Tacoma, miles away from Driscoll’s Rudy’s.
I hope this helps clear up any confusion.
A woman from Castle Rock, Cowlitz County, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to one count of distribution of methadone.
Julie Schoonover, 36, was indicted earlier this month as part of an 8-month investigation into prescription drug abuse in Southwest Washington, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle reported.
Undercover law enforcement officers and informants purchased illegal prescription drugs from people across Southwest Washington. Seven people in all were indicted in the sting.
Schoonover – who reportedly sold 100 methadone pills on one day – is the first to plead guilty,
…That’s the word from Pierce County deputy prosecutor Phil Sorensen.
Sorensen, who is prosecuting the case along with colleague Mark Lindquist, told Lights & Sirens on Tuesday that jury selection in the case of Dominick Maldonado is churning along. Attorneys hope to have a panel in place by the end of next week, Sorensen said.
That means opening arguments could come as soon as Sept. 4 with witness testimony beginning immediately thereafter.
Interim prosecutor Dan Satterburg filed a second-degree murder charge Monday against Christopher Temple, the 18-year-old man suspected of killing his 3-month-old son, Aiden, earlier this month.
Temple is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 30.
Jennifer Leigh Rice wants her bail reduced from $500,000 to $50,000, according to paperwork filed by the Pierce County Department of Assigned Counsel.
She also wants to be able to travel to Thurston County, where she lives, and to contact her kids should she make bail, according to a motion filed last week by her court-appointed attorneys.
Superior Court Judge Katherine Stolz told Rice at her arraignment last week that she was prohibited from having contact with anyone under 18 should she make bail. The judge also restricted her travel
…