Thieves favor small statues

The bad karma began with the theft of a Buddha statue from a Spokane Valley couple’s front porch on Jan. 22. Then two lions were filched from an East Sprague business overnight on Jan. 25 or 26. Now two concrete gargoyles have been reported missing from a home on Havana.

The 30-inch tall Buddha statue had been on the front porch of Charlotte and Donald Odell in the 7600 block of East Broadway. Charlotte Odell said her husband heard a noise about 3 a.m., but thought it was the newspaper delivery person. “He didn’t even bother to look,” she said.

The couple is not Buddhist, but that statue had sentimental value. It was a birthday gift to Donald Odell from his daughters last year. The 200-pound statue had graced their porch ever since. “We never thought that anybody could get it off our porch,” she said.

The figure does have a distinguishing mark. One of the toes was broken off and reattached with glue.

The lion statues were stolen from the front entrance of Encore Home Furnishings. The two figures were worth an estimated $400 each, said Spokane Valley Police Department spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan.

The two 50-pound gargoyles disappeared from the 4500 block of South Havana early in the morning on Jan. 28. The statues, posed leaning forward on their hands, are two feet tall and worth $200 each, said Reagan.

Anyone with information on the thefts is asked to call the police department tip line at 242-TIPS.

Purse thief strikes

A woman reported to Spokane Valley Police that a man accosted her and took her purse at about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday. The woman said the man approached her while she was in a parking lot of an apartment complex at 4405 E. Fifth Ave., said police spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan in a press release.

She was unable to give much of a description of the man, who was wearing dark clothing and gloves. She was not injured in the attack, Reagan said.

Anyone with information on the purse snatching is asked to call police at 242-TIPS.

Burglars makes off with candy

Burglars with an apparent sweet tooth made off with a candy vending machine from the Hico Village and Sprague and Argonne Sunday evening.

Store employees told police that a man and woman entered the store before midnight and went to an area of the store they couldn’t observe, said police spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan in a press release.

The two apparently loaded the machine into a maroon station wagon without being noticed. Employees told police they saw the theft when they checked the security video tapes after noticing that the machine was missing.

Anyone with information on the crime is asked to call police at 242-TIPS.

Escaping gas

A burglar escaped Jerry’s Quick Stop in Otis Orchards with half a dozen tanks of propane, said Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan.

The tanks, worth about $300, were taken from the business at 23905 E. Wellesley Ave. sometime between 9 p.m. Sunday and 4 a.m. Monday.

Anyone with information on the theft is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 242-TIPS.

Erratic driving leads to arrests

A Spokane County Sheriff’s Office deputy was on patrol near Trent and Ella late Tuesday pulled over a car after he saw it repeatedly drift over the white fog line.

The deputy noticed that the driver, identified as 22-year-old Bryan D. Larson of 29 E. Sixth Ave. had rapid and slurred speech, said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan.

The man took several field sobriety tests administered by a Washington State Patrol trooper and was arrested for driving while impaired and possession of marijuana, Reagan said.

A passenger in the car, Tiffany R. Hill, 21, told police the car belonged to her parents. A Spokane Police Department K-9 searched the car and found a small bag of methamphetamine, a marijuana pipe and two glass meth pipes in the area where Hill was sitting, Reagan said.

Hill, also of 29 E. Sixth Ave., was booked into the Spokane County Jail for possession of methamphetamine.

A bag of marijuana was found near the backseat passenger, Nicole S. Robson, also of the East Sixth address, Reagan said. She was cited for possession of marijuana and released.