3 plead guilty in pot-growing case
Seattle
Three people accused of helping seed a network of large-scale marijuana grow houses in King County have pleaded guilty to federal charges.
Dennis Narain, a former Boeing engineer, pleaded guilty last week to marijuana-manufacturing charges. Two of his in-laws, James Nguyen and Thu Anh “Diana” Tran, pleaded guilty to other charges last month.
The three were targets of a two-year federal investigation into Kent Distributor, a garden-supply store alleged to have supplied equipment, nutrients and know-how for dozens of grow operations throughout South King County.
In his plea agreement, Nguyen admitted that he and Tran, a former real-estate agent, bought and rented out 10 houses where a total of nearly 4,000 plants were grown. Tran pleaded guilty to a currency violation related to the rental income.
Narain, Tran’s father-in-law, admitted in his plea to growing 658 plants in a Renton house that police raided in 2005.
All face five-year mandatory minimum prison terms when they are sentenced next year. The trial for eight others, including Narain’s wife, is set for January in Seattle.
Seattle
City panel backs parks nominee
The City Council parks committee Tuesday recommended confirming Tim Gallagher as superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation.
The full council plans to vote on his confirmation Dec. 10.
Gallagher, 54, worked for Los Angeles County as director of parks and recreation from 2002 to 2004. Before that, he held the same position for the city of Stockton, Calif. He said his vision for Seattle parks is to promote environmental sustainability and to fight childhood obesity.
Seattle
‘78 slaying suspect to be arraigned
The arraignment of a man charged with murdering a Seattle girl nearly 30 years ago has been set for Tuesday morning in King County Superior Court.
Cold-case detectives submitted DNA evidence that linked Clarence Edward Williams, 63, to the 1978 slaying of Sara Beth Lundquist in Ballard.
The arraignment was rescheduled after Williams attempted to enter a no-contest plea Tuesday to the surprise of his own attorney who immediately asked the judge for more time to speak with his client.
Williams had been in prison since he was convicted of abducting, raping and murdering another young woman in Seattle that same year. He had been serving his sentence for the slaying of the Beacon Hill convenience-store clerk in a Minnesota prison because of overcrowding in Washington prisons.
Lundquist disappeared after she took a bus home after going to a movie. Her body was discovered the next morning in a service-station restroom near her home. Police said she had been abducted, raped and stabbed.
Lynnwood
Deputy fired over stolen money
Paul C. Watkins, the Lynnwood deputy police chief who pleaded guilty last week to stealing money and property from the department’s evidence room, was fired Thursday, according to a news release from the department’s chief.
Watkins, 50, who was with the department for more than 20 years, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to stealing money from the department, a federally funded local agency. Police and prosecutors allege that Watkins stole $70,000 to $120,000 over four years while he was commander of the department’s Criminal Investigative Division.
The money he admitted to taking had been seized previously by Lynnwood officers during criminal investigations, usually drug busts, and was supposed to be forfeited to the city or returned to its owners.
In a statement, Lynnwood Chief of Police Steven Jensen said Watkins had been a trusted and respected member of the department and that it was a “shock to our employees and many others that he had chosen to engage in repeated instances of criminal misconduct.”
Jensen said the investigation indicates that Watkins acted alone. He said the city will try to recover the stolen money.
Seattle
School-closing costs underestimated
While the Seattle school district expects to save money in the long run by shutting down seven school buildings, the process of closing them could cost more than three times the estimate, according to recent district analysis.
A new Seattle Public Schools analysis shows that moving costs, training, team-building retreats and other transition costs have added up to $927,364, and district officials say they expect to spend about $500,000 to $700,000 more. The original estimate totaled about $500,000.
The School Board voted to close schools because of falling enrollment. The district staff estimated the closures would save at least $1.9 million annually in operating costs.
The recent analysis shows that, after the School Board’s decision last year to close seven buildings, about half of the 732 students at closed schools went to the schools to which they were assigned. Another 155 of them left the district.
Most of the schools closed this year. Martin Luther King Elementary closed in the 2006-07 school year, and John Marshall Alternative School is to close in the 2007-08 school year.
Finance Committee Chairman Michael DeBell said he plans to discuss the report at the Dec. 5 School Board meeting.
Tacoma
Pilot indicted in child-sex case
A Lake Tapps pilot who has been charged in Pierce County Superior Court with several child-sex crimes was indicted in U.S. District Court Wednesday.
Weldon Marc Gilbert, who already had been charged federally with one count of production of child pornography, was indicted on three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in the production of child pornography and one count of transportation of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.
Federal prosecutors say Gilbert has “met, groomed and sexually abused” boys between the ages of 12 and 18 over the past 15 years, according to court documents. Two brothers, ages 18 and 13, were the first victims identified by authorities.
The charges filed Wednesday stem from Gilbert allegedly taking a boy to Canada in 2005 where the molestation was videotaped, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Gilbert, 47, was arrested Nov. 1 on charges filed in Pierce County stemming from the abuse of the two brothers. He faces nine counts in Pierce County of rape, sexual molestation and sexual exploitation. Federal court papers say authorities have seized sex tapes of the UPS pilot molesting nearly 20 boys.
Seattle
Ex-lounge managers charged over taxes
The former owners of Luau Polynesian Lounge in Seattle have been charged with first-degree theft for not paying $28,000 in sales taxes, according to the state Department of Revenue.
Ki S. Kim, 57, and his wife Sun E. Kim, 51, of Renton, were charged in King County Superior Court on Tuesday. The Department of Revenue alleges that the Kims did not pay all of the taxes they owed to the state between 2004 and 2005. The restaurant now has different owners.
The couple owe the state $22,686 in unpaid taxes after $5,100 was recovered from the couple’s wages and bank accounts, according to the Department of Revenue.
They face a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
Seattle
Judge OKs Lummi water-rights deal
A federal judge in Seattle has approved a water-rights settlement that resolves a long-standing dispute between Northwest Washington’s Lummi Tribe and other property owners in Whatcom County.
The settlement sets up a sharing agreement for groundwater use on the Lummi Reservation, for both tribal and nontribal needs. Because the land is surrounded by saltwater on three sides, groundwater pumping has to be carefully monitored to keep saltwater out of the aquifer.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly approved the agreement, which sets guidelines for sharing the water and managing the aquifer and imposes technical standards for wells.
Seattle Times staff and news services