Pierce County prosecutors today filed a second-degree murder charge against a man suspected of killing his girlfriend’s 1-year-old daughter last week.

Steven Andre Dwight Kendall, 23, is to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. today.

Prosecutors allege in charging documents that Kendall killed Aaliyah Kahalewai on Friday at her mother’s Parkland apartment. He was taking care of the girl while her mother worked, the documents state.

A motive was not given.

Kendall told investigators the girl sustained a number of falls during the day and that at one point he accidentally banged her head against a wall

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A Pierce County man has been convicted of accepting a bribe while serving with the Army in Iraq.

Cedar Lanmon pleaded guilty in federal court last week to one count of accepting an illegal gratuity.

In plea papers, Lanmon admitted he took $25,000 cash from an Albanian man seeking contracts to perform work on U.S. military installations in Iraq.

Lanmon is an Army captain who worked as resource procurement officer at the time. His responsibilities included recommending contractors to his superiors, according to the plea papers.

He accepted the bribe while deployed between May 2006 and May 2007, the documents state.

Lanmon also was charged with illegally importing an antiquity and laundering bribery proceeds, but prosecutors agreed to drop those charges in exchange for his guilty plea.

Lanmon’s wife reported him to authorities when he returned home from his second tour in Iraq last year with a pregnant girlfriend, according to court papers.

He faces up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he’s sentenced Oct. 24. The Army likely will take action to kick him out of the military now that he’s been convicted, according to a Fort Lewis official.

My previous story on the case follows:

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Area law enforcement agencies will be announcing plans this morning to create an auto theft task force to target thieves in the South King and North Pierce county areas.

A press conference on the formation of the Preventing Auto Theft through Regional Operational Links (PATROL) task force begins at 10 a.m. in Kent.

The task force will involve representatives of 18 law enforcement agencies and will partner with the King County Prosecutor’s Office.

This new task force is the second to be created in recent days.

Last week, the state awarded the City of Lakewood

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Tacoma police are searching for a 17-year-old girl after she left home to meet up with an older man she met on the Internet and never returned.

Kayla S. Moody (pictured here) was last seen about 3 p.m. Sunday. She told a friend she was going to Point Defiance Park to meet a 22-year-old man she’d met online, Tacoma police reported. In describing the man to her friend, Moody said he had light skin and curly hair. Moody didn’t tell her friend the man’s name.

Moody didn’t return home Sunday

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Pierce County prosecutors want to see the full investigation into a deadly shooting Sunday in Northeast Tacoma before deciding whether to file criminal charges.

A 74-year-old father who allegedly shot his daughter’s on again, off again boyfriend made a brief court appearance this afternoon. Tacoma police arrested him late Sunday on suspicion of second-degree murder in the death of Harold Fridline, 49.

The father posted his booking bail and was ordered to appear before a judge for possible charges today.

Chief criminal deputy Jerry Costello told a judge he wasn’t filing charges at this time.

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Once again, camera crews from the television show “COPS” are riding around with Pierce County sheriff’s deputies.

The ride-alongs begin tonight, sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said. Camera crews will be riding with deputies patrolling South Hill and East Pierce County.

The crews will be in tow for the next four to six weeks. They’ll be filming police incidents for the upcoming season of COPS.

Troyer said the Pierce County episodes will be featured along with incidents from other law enforcement agencies throughout the country.

“You will see us,” he said. “There is never a shortage

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Two of the best-known names in the Pierce County legal community clashed Tuesday in a Seattle courtroom.

It was personal-injury attorney Jack Connelly versus Prosecuting Attorney Gerald Horne in a slugfest in which Connelly had a distinct advantage: He was getting to ask the questions. Horne, in a role that was clearly uncomfortable for him, was on the witness stand.

At issue was the forced resignation – then firing – of Horne’s former No. 3 in command, Barbara Corey.

She got into hot water in 2004 following an unpopular personnel move that ultimately put Horne at odds

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Tacoma police and firefighters were on the scene of a car crash at South 96th Street and Pacific Avenue.

Officers were conducting traffic control in the area as the crash is investigating.

It sounds as though one person was injured.