A track and basketball coach at Spanaway Junior High has pleaded not guilty to second-degree child molestation.

Joseph Racillio Pendon, 50, of Tacoma, was arraigned Friday. He is a longtime employee at Bethel School District, working as a coach and paraeducator.

When Pierce County sheriff’s deputies arrested him Thursday, he cried and said “he did not know what to do and he did not know what this was all about,” according to court documents.

Pendon is accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl whom he coached in track and basketball when she came to his house July 1 after selling firecrackers …

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Thieves have been targeting mail boxes on Tacoma’s East Side.

The Tacoma Police Department reports an increase in mail theft in neighborhoods south of 56th Street, according to an email from community liaison officer Don Hensley to Safe Streets.

Several residents have found pieces of discarded mail on the street. The mail is from nearby neighborhoods, Hensley wrote.

One resident spotted a young woman trying to steal a package Wednesday morning from a porch near the 7200 block of A Street. When confronted, the woman took off.

Tacoma officers responded and found the woman.

“She has minimal criminal history of …

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Fife police are searching for three men who kicked and robbed a man early Thursday as he slept outside a Jack in the Box restaurant.

The victim told detectives he was from Texas and had traveled to Fife with a long-haul trucker. He got separated from his traveling companion and, with little money and nowhere to stay, decided to sleep on some cardboard behind the restaurant at 3402 Pacific Highway E., police reported.

About 12:30 a.m. Thursday, three men woke up the victim. They assaulted him and kicked him repeatedly in the face and head. They took money out of …

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Tacoma police are searching for a man suspected of breaking into an apartment near Wright Park early today, brandishing a knife and stealing from an elderly man.

The robber is described as black, in his 30s and 5 feet 10 to 6 feet tall with a medium build and short hair. He was possibly wearing a dark-colored T-shirt and jeans, police reported.

Police believe the robber climbed over a ground-level balcony railing and slipped through the slightly ajar sliding glass door of an apartment in the 400 block of South G Street just after 3 a.m.

The suspect had a …

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A Chihuahua rescued and then lost by Federal Way police was found dead today near Tacoma-Pierce County Humane Society.

The dog, Sury, was removed Saturday from an overheated van parked at Wild Waves Theme Park. The dog escaped while an animal control officer was moving it from the truck to the shelter.

Police said it appeared Sury had been hit by a vehicle.

It’s owners have been notified.

UPDATE as of 7:15 p.m.: The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the boy as Robert Smith Jr. of Tacoma.

UPDATE: From our news partners at KIRO-TV:

A 13-year-old boy died Thursday after he disappeared while swimming at American Lake near Lakewood, West Pierce Fire and Rescue said.

Jenny Sharp from West Pierce said rescuers found the boy unconscious in the lake at about 5:45 p.m. They pulled him out of the water, started CPR and brought him to a waiting ambulance. He was later pronounced dead.

The boy was in the swimming area at the lake and disappeared,

…

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Investigators in south King County are searching for three men suspected of robbing four gas station convenience stores in Federal Way and Maple Valley this week.

Investigators believe the men who robbed two convenience stores early Monday also held up two Maple Valley stores early Wednesday. Their descriptions and methods are the same, King County sheriff’s Sgt. John Urquhart said.

The Sheriff’s Office released surveillance photos of the suspects today.

The men robbed two Shell gas stations in Federal Way in less than 20 minutes. In both incidents, they wielded guns and wore black masks.

Early Wednesday, they …

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Tacoma police detectives  interviewed a woman today who was attacked Tuesday night while jogging in Point Defiance Park but gleaned no clues about the attacker’s identity or motive.

“She doesn’t remember anything past when she lost consciousness,” Tacoma police Mark Fulghum said this afternoon. “She never saw (the attacker).”

The 27-year-old woman was jogging along Five Mile Drive about 6:40 p.m. Tuesday when she heard footsteps. She thought it might be someone running up behind her and didn’t turn around, police said.

She then felt something around her neck and an impact to her body. She blacked out. When she …

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