Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, September 05, 2001, Page 2, Image 2

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    September 05, 2001
Explosives Litter Neighborhoods
The P o rtlan d P olice Bureau
is w arn in g re s id e n ts to be
aw are o f su sp ic io u s-lo o k in g
objects, esp ecially unattended
bags or p ack ag es, in the w ake
o f recen t in c id e n ts in v o lv in g
ex p lo siv es o r p ip e bom bs.
P eo p le sh o u ld n o t to u c h
su sp icio u s d ev ices o r tra n s ­
port them in any w ay, but ca ll
9 -1 -1 im m e d ia te ly so th e
b u re a u 's e x p lo siv e d isp o sa l
unit can resp o n d , p o lice said.
Four separate co m p lain ts o f
“ s u s p ic io u s d e v i c e s ” o c ­
cu rre d on S unday, A ug. 26.
T h ree o f the dev ices w ere
fo u n d to be an explosive.
P o lice said the first d evice,
fo u n d in the d rivew ay o f a
hom e n ear the in te rse c tio n o f
1 5 9 ,h a n d F o s te r , w a s a
pipebom b.
T he second d evice, found
in a p ark in g lot at S outheast
3 3 rd and W oodw ard, had been
d iscard ed in the area up to tw o
w eeks e a rlie r, but no one re c ­
o g n iz e d the device as a p o te n ­
tia l d a n g e r. The d isp o sa l unit
exam ined it and determ in ed
that it w as a hom em ade e x p lo ­
sive.
The th ird device w as found
by an in d iv id u al leaving PG E
Park in a p arking lot near 19,h
and B urnside. But in this case.
Police determ in ed that the d e ­
vice w as not an exp lo siv e
T h e f o u r th d e v ic e w a s
found in the alcove of an a p a rt­
m ent com plex at 605 S.E. 4 1 “
A ve. P olice d isco v ered that
the device was a hom em ade
explosive.
Reward Grows to $10,000
The Portland Police Bureau held a news con­
ference last week to announce a $ 10,000 reward
for information leading to the arrest of the person
responsible for the murder of 11 -year-old Joshua
Jefferies.
Jefferies died Aug. 10 after being shot while
asleep in his bed at his house on 6548 S.E. 48“’.
The case has yielded no new clues, no arrests
and no suspects, police said.
The reward is being offered by the Carole
Sund Carrington Memorial Foundation.
Anyone with information on the case can call
503-823-0395 or503-823-0459.
Hate Crime Suspect in
Cross Dresser’s Death
(AP) - Investigators believe
dressed like a woman. The
a 28-year-old Aloha man was
incidents weren’t reported
killed because he dressed in
to police, but family and
women’s clothing. The body
friends of the victim told
of Lorenzo “Loni Kai” Igisaiar
the d e te c tiv e s th a t
Okaruru was found shortly
Okaruru had been beaten
before 8 a.m. Aug. 26 in a field
up in Portland and in
near Hillsboro. Okaruru had
W ashington County.
been beaten with a blunt in­
“We have no idea what
strument at a different location
happened, as far as we
and dumped in the field, police
knew, Loni was a really
said.
good guy,” said Martin
“Based on the investigation
Nepaial, the husband of
and evidence we have at this
O karuru’s cousin. “She
point, we believe that he was
alw ays m ade us laugh
killed because of his sexual
when we were down.”
orientation or gender identifi- ¡_orenzo “¡_Oni K ai’ Okaruru
W ashington C ounty
cation,” said Mike O ’Connell,
detectives said it was likely
a Washington County detective.
the killer picked up O kaninr walking along
Okaruru carried an Oregon identification
Southwest Tualatin Valley Highway, thought
card that listed his gender as female, although
he was a woman and became enraged when he
he had not undergone a sex change operation.
found out otherwise.
The detectives said relatives referred to
Okaruru, who was 5-foot-9 and 130 pounds,
Okaruru as a woman, and young cousins
was wearing acid-washed designer women’s
called him their aunt.
jeans, a gray sweatshirt and white sneakers.
Investigators said Okaruru had been as­
Okaruru’s fingernails were painted dark green
saulted previously because he acted and
and his long, thick, dark hair was tinted red.
«
More Legal Action Against Vancouver School
(AP) — Two more families have filed claims
against the Washington School for the Deaf
in Vancouver, saying officials there failed to
protect children from sexual abuse by other
students.
That makes seven cases alleging sexual
abuse by older students or staff on the school
campus since 1988.
In one o f the new claims, a boy is accused
of sexually assaulting an 11 -year-old girl three
times in September 1994. The claim says the
H. & B. Too
girl’s aunt reported the previous year that the
same boy and two others had tried to rape her.
A medical exam confirmed sexual contact
between the girl and boy named in the com -^
plaint, but charges were not filed after police
decided the sex was consensual, said Mark
Kamitomo, an attorney representing the girl.
The girl, now 18, is asking for $ 1 million in
damages.
“The school had the duty to protect her
from him after her aunt reported the attempted
rape,” Kamitomo said.
The same boy is accused of rap­
ing a 14-year-old student in a cam ­
pus bathroom in April 1999. The
state agreed to pay that family
$ 125,000 to settle the lawsuit.
In the other case, a mother who
alleges her 10-year-old son was
raped by another boy in May 1999
has filed two claims: one seeking $2
million for her son and another seek­
ing $500,000 for her, for emotional
and psychological damage.
Now Open
Oregon’s Oldest Licensed Pawnshop
4709 N. E. Martin Luther King Blvd.
2 blocks South of Alberta
Weekdays tin 5:30pm - Saturdays tin4:00pm
Free Parking - State Controlled Rates - Se Habla Español
www.hbloan.com
Oregon Family Business for over 50 years.
4
Customs Find
Nearly 70 Pounds
of Cocaine
(AP) — Federal customs agents
in Portland arrested a Honduran
seaman and confiscated nearly 70
pounds o f cocaine from a ship that
had sailed from Colombia, accord­
ing to an affidavit filed last week in
U.S. District Court.
T he U .S .-fla g g e d O v e rse a s
Harriette tied up at the Cascade
General Shipyard Aug. 26.
Tw odaysearlier, the captain had
informed customs officials that,
during a routine safety check, an
officer had found what appeared to
be cocaine in an overhead compart­
ment in a common area of the ship.
An itemizer swipe of crew quar­
ters found traces of cocaine in Luis
Rochez’s, 27, cabin and in nobody
e lse’s. Item izer sw ipes analyze
minute traces o f controlled sub­
stances.
Rochez then told customs agents
that while he was in a bar the first
night in port in Buena Ventura, he
was promised $93,000 to bring the
drug into the United States.