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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Ferris assistant principal on paid leave

Ferris High School’s assistant principal, Todd Bender, is on paid administrative leave pending completion of an unspecified criminal investigation, officials confirmed Wednesday.

The Spokane Police Department confirmed Wednesday evening that Bender is the subject of a criminal investigation.

Police spokeswoman Monique Cotton said she could only confirm that an investigation is underway and wouldn’t disclose the nature of the allegations.

Spokane Public Schools spokesman Kevin Morrison said Bender was placed on paid administrative leave Tuesday night.

Mutilated squirrel found nailed to pole

Spokane police are investigating after a mutilated squirrel was found nailed to a telephone pole on the South Hill near East 19th Avenue and Rebecca Street.

The squirrel’s stomach was sliced open and its limbs were nailed to the pole at four points, forming an X. An employee of the company that owns the pole reported the squirrel to police Tuesday morning.

“It’s obviously something that’s concerning,” police spokeswoman Officer Teresa Fuller said.

Anyone who has information about the mutilation or any similar behavior in the area should call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.

VA hospital plans to cut ER hours, service

The Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center will close its emergency department overnight beginning Dec. 1.

It’s a temporary measure to address a shortage of ER doctors, said Megan Crowley, spokeswoman for the VA Northwest Health Network in Vancouver, Washington. The VA hopes to hire more doctors and reopen the emergency department 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the spring, she said.

Starting in December, the emergency department in Spokane will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week. The ER also won’t accept patients taken there by ambulance, according to a news release.

Veterans who need care when the department is closed should seek care at another hospital, Crowley said. Depending on a veteran’s eligibility for VA care, the agency may pay some or all of the bill at a non-VA emergency room, Crowley said.

The Spokane VA’s emergency department handles about 17,000 patient visits a year, Crowley said.

She said the closure was planned before the arrest last month of one of the hospital’s ER doctors, Dr. Craig Morgenstern, on child rape charges.

Man pleads guilty to dealing meth, pills

A 29-year-old Spokane man implicated in a shooting that closed a downtown music venue briefly in 2013 pleaded guilty Wednesday to dealing meth and illicit pills from Las Vegas and likely will spend the next 15 years in federal prison.

Stafone Fuentes was arrested after his home was raided in February. There, authorities discovered $20,000 in cash tucked behind a toilet and other evidence indicating a prolonged drug trade that the FBI had been tracking using cellphone surveillance.

Fuentes also faces a charge of attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of another man following a concert at the Knitting Factory in February 2013. That case remains to be decided in Spokane County Superior Court. Fuentes was previously acquitted of charges in a suspected gang shooting that killed Moses Lake man Jose J. “Junior” Solis at a downtown motel in November 2011.

Fuentes is believed to have employed several women, who have also been indicted, to sell the drugs.

Man arrested after CdA break-in reported

A 21-year-old Coeur d’Alene woman hid under the covers of her bed and called 911 Wednesday morning as a strange man moved through her home in the 400 block of West Davidson Avenue.

Police arrived quickly and were able to catch the suspect a short distance away, said Coeur d’Alene Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Christie Wood. Justin Raymond Stiles, 26, is in the Kootenai County Jail facing a burglary charge.

The woman told dispatchers that she could see the man through the crack of a curtain covering her bedroom door. The man apparently spotted her and told her that people were after him and he had to hide, Wood said.

The man locked the doors and police had to kick in the front door when they arrived, Wood said. Stiles ran out the back door and was chased down by officers, Wood said. He reportedly fought with police as they tried to arrest him, she said.

Neighbors told police that they had seen Stiles in the neighborhood acting suspiciously that morning, Wood said.

Doctor pleads not guilty to indictment

Craig Morgenstern, a suspended physician at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Spokane, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a nine-count federal criminal indictment alleging sexual assault of a child in Idaho and the production and distribution of child pornography.

An investigation spearheaded by Stevens County detectives after a 13-year-old boy reported Morgenstern sexually assaulted him last month has revealed allegations dating to 2008, involving four underage victims.

Authorities are seeking to seize two homes that belong to Morgenstern, who has been licensed as an osteopathic physician in Washington since 2008 and has no disciplinary actions on his record.