Police make numerous meth-related arrests
Spokane Valley police arrested several people for possession of methamphetamine during routine traffic stops in the last week.
On March 30, an officer at Freya Street and Glass Avenue pulled over a Toyota Celica for a traffic infraction about 8:30 p.m. and the driver, 28-year-old Timothy Daniel Schaefer, was arrested for driving with a suspended license, police said.
Schaefer asked that his passenger, 39-year-old Timothy C. Scheurner, take the car, but police said a search of the vehicle revealed bags of meth as well as crack and powdered cocaine.
After interviewing the suspects, police said that Schaefer had just purchased one of the bags of meth for $70 from Scheurner, according to a news release from Sgt. Dave Reagan of the sheriff’s office.
Police booked Scheurner into the Spokane County Jail for felony possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver and possession of cocaine.
Schaefer was booked on a possession of methamphetamine charge and was issued various traffic tickets.
On Saturday an officer on East Sprague Avenue pulled over the driver of a Honda Accord for defective lighting, Reagan said.
The officer arrested the driver, Cheryl L. Curry, 37, for driving with a suspended license and found a small amount of meth and paraphernalia in her purse, police said.
She was booked on charges of possession of methamphetamine and third-degree driving while license suspended.
Also Saturday, Ryan L. Cheers, 22, was arrested near Park Road and Valleyway after an officer saw him driving a Ford Thunderbird with expired license tabs.
He was arrested on an outstanding escape charge, police said. In his pocket an officer found an empty syringe and about 30 Honda keys, according to the release.
In the car, police found a bag of meth, more syringes, more car keys and a credit card bill police believe to have been stolen in a recent vehicle prowling incident.
Police also arrested passenger Shane M. Hoover, 24. Both men were booked into county jail on felony possession of methamphetamine charges. Cheers also faces the escape charge and two traffic infractions.
In a separate incident that same day, police arrested Dana R. Moya, 28, of Sunnyside, Wash., and Jeremy M. Russell, 25, of Bellingham on similar charges, according to the release.
Officers at Mullan Road and Sprague Avenue saw Moya pull out of a convenience store parking lot and drive the wrong way down a one-way street, police said.
While talking to Moya, the officer saw a pipe with what he believed to be meth in the car’s ashtray and arrested her on a charge of suspicion of possession of methamphetamine and for driving with a suspended license and other traffic violations.
Russell was then arrested after he became abusive, police said. After a bag of meth was found in the car, Russell also was booked on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
Man arrested in stolen pickup
Police say an officer not only recognized a stolen vehicle that was driven in front of him Friday afternoon but also the man who was driving it.
William David Zink was driving a pickup truck near Fifth Avenue and Custer and tried to get away when the officer saw him and turned on his lights, according to a release from the sheriff’s office.
Police chased Zink to an apartment complex where he was arrested and booked into jail on a charge of felony first-degree possession of stolen property.
Before police took him away, Zink complained that he’s just been released from jail the previous week, according to the release.
Good thing he wasn’t a bowler
A store clerk helped police catch a potential shoplifter at National Golf on East Sprague Avenue Monday night after he noticed a man trying to leave the store with golf clubs stuffed down his pant leg.
About 6:40 p.m., the clerk called police after seeing a customer walking funny as he headed toward the door. He confronted the suspect, who pulled out two Titleist wedges and a Ping putter and then pleaded with the clerk not to turn him in.
Matthew A. Trudgeon was arrested on a charge of suspicion of second-degree theft.