King County Sheriff Sue Rahr announced Tuesday (Sept. 28th) that Kent Police Chief Steve Strachan has accepted her offer to join the Sheriff’s Office as the Undersheriff beginning in early 2011.

Sheriff Rahr has been working for over a year to restructure the command and organization of the Sheriff’s Office in order to save money. In addition, with growing Transit policing and significant annexations the Sheriff’s Office will function more efficiently with an Undersheriff.

Beginning in June of this year Sheriff Rahr cut two command staff positions and two more are slated for elimination in 2011. The Undersheriff will take on responsibility for overseeing much of the work that was managed by those commanders.

Steve Strachan was recruited to be the Chief of Police of the Kent Police Department in 2006. He has an exceptional background with experience in police leadership positions and has held elected offices in both state and local government.

Here’s Strachan’s bio:

Police Chief Steve Strachan has over 25 years of law enforcement experience. He has served as Chief of Police since 2006 in Kent, Washington, a regional center with a population of 115,000. Steve previously served as Chief of Police in Lakeville, Minnesota, where he had been an Administrative Sergeant, Detective, School Resource Officer, SWAT team leader, DARE Officer, and Patrol Officer. Steve has also been at the forefront of initiatives which have shown tremendous success in reducing repeat calls for service and increasing safety in multiple-housing areas.

In 1996, Steve was elected to the first of two terms as a city council member in Farmington, Minnesota. In 2002, Steve was elected to the Minnesota State House of Representatives, where he served on the Judiciary Committee. In his time in the House, Steve was the chief author of several high profile and controversial bills, including the reduction of the alcohol limit to .08 and a complete overhaul of Minnesota’s sex offender registration policies.

Steve served on the Minnesota Public Safety Facilities Commission for Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, and was later appointed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to the State Sex Offender Policy Commission, the DWI Task Force, and the Governor’s Stadium Commission.

Steve holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Minnesota, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Minnesota State University, Mankato. He is a graduate of the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar (LEEDS) #51. Steve was a member of Session #44 of the Senior Management Institute for Police through the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).

In 2007, Steve was appointed by Washington Governor Christine Gregoire to the Washington Auto Theft Prevention Authority. Steve is the Co-Chair of the Washington Association of Sheriff’s and Police Chiefs Corrections Committee. He is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Vice-Chair of the King County Chiefs of Police Association, and is an active member of the Kent Rotary Club.

Mueller died when his Toyota Prius hit a guardrail on Highway 509 near South 160th, left the road and hit a tree.

PREVIOUSLY:

According to The Seattle Times, a 57-year old Normandy Park man was killed Monday night around 7pm when his car, a Toyota Prius, hit a guardrail on Highway 509 near South 160th Street and left the road.

Cox was armed with a pellet gun, which he wouldn’t drop after being order to by police. The weapon, which resembled a real handgun, was the most likely reason he was shot, police said. He was shot at the intersection of First and Spring Streets downtown.

Seattle Police Sgt. Gary Nelson said that Cox had recently bought the weapon — a near replica of a Colt .45 — with plans to rob the Wells Fargo Bank branch in West Seattle. Cox, who has been convicted of two previous bank robberies, was arrested with getaway driver Kevin Palmer.

Cox and Palmer are suspected of robbing the bank in the 2300 block of California Ave SW shortly after 10am Tuesday, then leading police on a lengthy chase to Capitol Hill and then to downtown Seattle.

Police said that Cox, and Palmer, 43, met while living in a halfway house in Seattle and plotted the West Seattle robbery over the past week. After his arrest Tuesday, Palmer told police that Cox told him that he refused to be caught by police, Nelson said.

Despite repeated warnings to surrender, police say, Cox displayed a handgun, prompting three Seattle police officers and one King County sheriff’s deputy to pump numerous gunshots into a Jeep Cherokee the men used in the robbery.

Assistant Police Chief Nick Metz said today that officers fired 15 shots and Cox was struck up to five times in the head and neck.

Cox was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he was listed in serious condition this morning. Metz identified the officers who fired their weapons as: Seattle police Sgt. Joseph Bauer, 45; Seattle Police Officer Jeff Geoghagen, 37; and Seattle Police Officer Chriseley Lang, 46. King County sheriff’s Deputy William Kememer, 40, also fired.

All four officers are on administrative leave while Seattle police investigate.

One bystander suffered minor injuries when he was sprayed with glass while seated in a nearby vehicle. The man declined medical aid, police said.

Palmer had been arrested before the shooting after he jumped out of the Cherokee at Eighth Avenue and Yesler Way, said FBI Special Agent Robbie Burroughs.

SOURCE:

• The Seattle Times

The 22-year-old victim died at the scene of the hit-and-run crash in the 9700 block of Des Moines Memorial Drive about 11:30 p.m. He had been walking in the roadway, deputies reported.

Investigators recognized the victim from a disturbance call less than a half hour earlier at the nearby Rascal’s Casino, 9635 Des Moines Memorial Drive.

Deputies worked with casino security officers to identify the suspect and went to his home in a Tukwila trailer park. They found the suspected hit-and-run vehicle, a 1991 Toyota Previa minivan, which had body damage consistent with hitting a pedestrian, deputies reported.

The suspected driver, a 29-year-old man, was located and booked into King County Jail on suspicion of vehicular homicide.

The incident remained under investigation.

SOURCE:

• News Tribune

View Larger Map

Now comes word that the very same robber held up the very same bank last Saturday.

Same guy.

Same bank.

Within two weeks!

Deputies say he robbed the KeyBank at 655 SW 152nd on June 7 around 11:30am. He passed a note to the teller demanding money but didn’t show a weapon. He then left in a full-size, medium-blue older Ford pickup truck that had no canopy.

Then, two weeks later, he used identical tactics to rob the identical bank at 10:10am.

However, this time, the man apparently escaped on foot, as no vehicle was seen with him.

 (Note to cops: perhaps he’s robbing banks because he drives an old Ford truck that gets 7 MPG?)

Deputies have released a photo of the bad guy, and if you see him in a full-size, medium-blue older Ford pickup, or perhaps on foot, you are asked to please call their office 24/7 at (206) 571-8838:

View Larger Map

Nicole Pietz, 32, was found strangled Feb. 6, 2006, in a wooded area near South 114th and Des Moines Memorial Drive (see map below).

Her 2003 Volkswagen Jetta was found abandoned two weeks later in the University District in Seattle.

The King County Sheriff’s Office is investigating and hasn’t publicly identified any suspects.

Gail Schneider, mother of Pietz, said at a new conference that she hopes increasing the reward from $26,000 will reach the conscience of someone who might have information about the slaying or who might have been an accomplice.

SOURCE:

• The Seattle P-I

View Larger Map

And Chelan County prosecutors have also yet to file a vehicular homicide charge against the driver of the pickup that struck and killed 39-year-old John W. Jones early Saturday.

Chelan County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Doug Shae said this morning that prosecutors are waiting for a full report from the sheriff’s office and the results of blood alcohol tests before deciding what charges, if any, should be filed against the 41-year-old pickup driver suspected by the sheriff’s office of driving while drunk.

The man has been released from Chelan County Regional Justice Center, according to both Harum and the man’s former attorney, John Brangwin. Brangwin said in an e-mail Wednesday that he no longer represents the 41-year-old man because his office previously represented one of the witnesses in the case.

The identities of the Burien-based suspects have not yet been released.

Sheriff’s office investigators continue to seek witnesses to the series of events leading to Jones’s death. A dispute began when the longtime Manson resident struck a pedestrian while driving away from a Wapato Way bar, then was chased by two — or possibly three — motorcyclists, according to witnesses.

Jones then was involved in a rollover accident less than a half mile away in the 300 block of Boetzkes Avenue, and a physical confrontation followed with the motorcyclists.

While Harum previously said three men were involved in the confrontation with Jones, he said Thursday morning it was unclear if there were two or three men who confronted Jones. The sheriff’s office has only spoken with two men, Harum said.

“We’re going to be…contacting them again,” said Harum, adding he didn’t think the motorcyclists were given sobriety tests or had blood drawn at the scene, though they were at the same bar as Jones.

Harum said he expected a decision to be made on charges sometime next week.

“I think there are 10 or more witnesses now who had seen something there at the establishment downtown or at the scene,” Harum said.

Some witnesses have given conflicting statements, however. One witness not involved in the dispute described Jones as getting out of his SUV and walking when the fistfight began with the motorcyclists, while another account of the altercation describes Jones as lying in a ditch when confronted.

An autopsy revealed that Jones suffered multiple internal injuries after being struck by the passing pickup. Other questions were left unanswered, however.

“He could have also sustained some injuries in the collision he was in where he rolled over, and we suspect he could have sustained some injuries from an assault as well. But we’re not able to delineate where they all came from,” said Harum.

The driver of the pickup is also believed to have been drinking at the same bar as Jones and the motorcyclists, Harum said, but he added that the pickup driver was not involved in the dispute. The driver is reported to have attempted to flee the scene only to have been brought back by one of the motorcyclists involved in the dispute.

According to his conditions of release, the pickup driver is not allowed to operate a motor vehicle until further orders.

Call the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office at (509) 667-6851 if you have information.

SOURCE:

• Wenatchee World

View Larger Map

I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY PPL JUS WANT TO DO THINGS LIKE THAT. MY UNKO WAS A GREAT MAN WITH A BIG HEART…HE WAS THE BABYY IN THE FAMILY. AND TO THE GUY WHO SHOT MY UNKO YOU BETTER BE VERY THANKFUL THAT LAW ENFORcEMENT GOT YOU 1ST……MAY YOU REST IN LOVE UNKO BEN ALWAYS IN OURS HEARTS AND ON OUR MINDS. I LOVE YOU FOREVER UNTIL THAT DAY WE MEET AGAIN. IA MANUIA LOU MAGALA. I LOVE YOU UNKO B……………………..

UPDATE (8pm 5/7/08):

Bruce Sivao “Monk” Matagi, 27, of Auburn, was charged by King County prosecutors with first-degree murder for the shooting death of Laumea.

If convicted, the sentence range is 26 to 33 years in prison.

Matagi is being held in the King County Jail on $3 million bail.

He is scheduled to be arraigned May 15 at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Investigators say Laumea was shot once in the head with an AK-47 early Sunday at the MVP Sports Bar, where he used to work.

Witnesses say he was attempting to stop Matagi, who came into the bar and started shooting at the ceiling, allegedly with an AK-47.

The girl was allegedly drinking at a house in the 9600 block of Des Monies Memorial Drive South when the subject took her up into the attic, King Country Sheriff’s Office spokesman John Urquhart said.

It was there that the man apparently sexually assaulted her.

Urquhart said the victim’s friends, who were among at least four others at the house where several people frequently hang out, called police around 4:40am.

“They knew something was wrong,” said Urquhart, adding police have not positively identified the suspect yet.

Police said the girl was treated at Harborview Medical Center.

SOURCE:

• Seattle P-I

View Larger Map

According the the Bellingham Herald, King County prosecutors have filed charges in the case of a man who was shot in the head with what a witness says was an assault rifle.

Bruce Sivao Matagi is scheduled for arraignment May 15 at the Regional Justice Center in Kent on charges of attempted first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Prosecutors said Monday they would ask that bail be set at $3 million.

First reports were that Ben Laumea, a father of six, was in such bad shape that deputies initially reported him dead. Doctors at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle allegedly found that the bullet entered Laumea’s and exited the back of his skull.

He has since passed away from his injuries.

He risked his life early Sunday when a gunman burst into the bar in Burien around 1 am with an assault rifle. The gunman began firing in the crowded bar, riddling the ceiling with bullet holes as bar patrons fled for cover.

When the gunman reached the front of the bar, he got into a scuffle with Laumea, who used to work as a bouncer at the bar. That’s when Laumea took a bullet and slumped behind the bar. The shooter fled the scene and no one else was hurt.

Friends and family call him “Big Ben.”

“Big guy, Big teddy bear,” said family friend Tikeri Liousamoa.

Liousamoa says she talked to Laumea just hours before gunfire erupted.

“It’s kind of hard and see someone that day and then in five minutes, you lose them, or something bad happens to them,” she said, wiping away the tears.

Laumea worked for years at the bar in the 12800 block of Ambaum Boulevard. He wasn’t working Saturday, but jumped in to help when the gunman began firing recklessly.

Liousamoa hears the shooting may be savage payback.

“From what they said he was targeting Ben,” she said.

A bouncer recognized the gunman as a former customer who was kicked out of the bar several days earlier for fighting.

“When you hear your own people hurting each other, it’s a blow,” said Liousamoa. “Samoans, you know, we have big hearts. We were taught better than that.”

Formerly known as Mario’s, this bar has seen its share of troubles before, most notoriously in 1974 when serial killer Ted Bundy killed Brenda Ball, whom he met there. 

SOURCES:

• KOMO News
• Bellingham Herald

View Larger Map