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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 8, 2002)
(Elje IJortlanh (ßbsemer Page A2 □rtlnuò Oriti, May 08,2002 P olice /V ancouver Skinheads Convicted of Beating Woman attack on anti-racist skinheads at a northeast P ort land bar, police alleged. The group then allegedly took her to her apartm ent in Clackam as County where they held her for four days before she escaped and called C lackam as C ounty s h e riff s deputies. T orkelson and Brow n were am ong five people w hom a M ultnom ah C ounty grand jury indicted in the case. Shiela M cK enzie. 25, has pleaded guilty in (A P) — T w o m en described as racist skinheads the case and testified during the trial. Dimitri Tash, 34, have been convicted in the N ovem ber beating o f a and Pam ela Bailey, 28, are wanted on felony warrants, w om an w ho refused to fight anti-racist skinheads. according to Tom C upani, the deputy district attor A jury found Jam es DavidTorkelson, 24, and Gary C. Brown, 33, guilty last week o f kidnapping, assault, ney w ho is prosecuting the case, T orkelson and Brow n said they were innocent because they d id n ’t hit Ulrich. But the prosecutor robbery and coercion. M ultnom ah C ounty Circuit Judge Jam es Ellis set sentencing for June 4. said they had put the others up to it. Police near South B end, Ind., arrested Torkelson The victim , L indsey Ulrich, 19, w as beaten at a Portland apartm ent after she refused to join a planned on Jan. 1. T hey said he had stayed o ff and on at the hom e o f Richard Loy, a Ku Klux K ian leader. Id en tity T h ie f S en ten ced (A P )— A man who stole per sonal information from nearly 3 m illion O regonians was sen tenced to nearly 4*/i years in jail. Jody Gene Oates, 44, pleaded guilty Friday to identity theft and other forgery-related charges. Police last winter searched his apartment on a tip and found com puter disks that contained the Oregon Division o f Motor Vehicles database. At the time o f O ates’ Nov. 14 arrest, Hillsboro police also con fiscated death certificates, m edi cal files, stolen credit cards and blank checks. The seized items could have been used to steal the identities and credit o f people across the state. Police never proved Oates used the DM V database, but the "poten tial was horrendous,” said Dan Thenell, deputy district attorney. Based on O ates’ extensive his tory o f drunk driving, theft and forgery convictions going back to 1977, W ashington County Circuit Judge Kirsten E. Thom pson sen tenced him to 13 m onths in prison on each o f 13 identity theft counts. She ordered that four o f the sen tences run consecutively and the rest run concurrently, along with the forgery sentences. “You have been carefully m ak ing your reservation for prison over the last 25 years,” Thom pson said. Oates told the judge that he had been a heavy m achinery operator in Portland and Eugene and worked on the light-rail line that runs past the W ashington County Jail. But he developed pneum onia in August and had open-heart surgery not long be fore his arrest, he said, forcing him to quit his job. “Tough, golly, that’s too bad,” Thom pson said. “Because illness happens. It’s part o f life, it’s no excuse.” Thenell said there was no way to know how much money Oates and others stole, but he estim ated th at th ree b an k s lo st ab o u t $10,000. Liquor Control Works Local Dances Inspectors hold sobriety checks to halt underage drinking O regon Liquor Control C om m ission inspectors have been w orking w ith high school stu dents, teachers and parents to put a dam per on young people drink ing during cam pus events. In s p e c to rs L in d a K o p p e s, K aren Keith, Lynne N elson and Jackie Paul recently conducted sobriety checks during dances at Roosevelt and G rant high schools in north and northeast Portland. They w ere invited on cam pus by school officials. D u rin g R o o s e v e lt’s S ad ie Hawkins dance, the O LCC inspec tors tested five students w ith a calibrated portable breathalyzer. O ne student blew into the device and tested positive with a . 10 per cent blood alcohol content. The legal lim it for anyone under 21 is .00 percent. A w eek later at a G rant High dance, the inspectors cited four 14-year-old girls for m inor in pos session o f alcohol. Later, the 18- year-old sister o f one o f the four w as cited into N orth N ortheast C om m unity C ourt for furnishing them w ith a fifth o f vodka. She faces a $350 fine for the first o f fense. The four girls w ere cited and referred to M ultnom ah County Juvenile Court. K oppes to ld a re p o rte r for R o o sev elt H ig h ’s stu d en t new s p ap e r that the O L C C w as in v ited “as a tool to d eter u n d er age p erso n s from d rin k in g alco hol and a tten d in g a school fu n c tio n .” T he inspector said students selected by school staff for the breathalyzer test show ed one or m ore o f the 50 signs o f visible in to x ica tio n , such as loud or slurred speech, stum bling, strong o d o r o f alcohol, bloodshot or glassy eyes. Police Crack Identity Theft Ring (AP) — Police say they cracked an identity theft ring that’s bigger than any other busted in Portland before. Nine people have been charged with conspiracy, bank fraud and identity theft by a federal grand jury. The suspects made fake checks and driver’s licenses from a small truck, according to in vestigators. According to the indict- ment, the group stole personal information from Washington Mutual Bank customers by picking through trash bins be hind a bank branch in south east Portland. M em bers o f the group cashed checks worth a total of $270,000 over two years. Police say this is the biggest identity theft ring they’ve cracked so far in Portland. They believe the suspects used the money to fuel drug habits. Named in the indictment are 37-year-old M ichael Siegelbaum; 41 -year-old Su san V efik ; 3 7 -y e a r-o ld Jeanine Waugh; 34-year-old Jennifer Robinson; 42-year- old Sharon Egger; 41-year- old Ronald Watson; 38-year- old Lance Shaw; 40-year- old Donna Johnson and 36- year-old Gracie Beeler. Arson Suspected in Art Gallery Fire Firefighters to Test 15,000 Hydrants $100,000 in dam age to the build ing housing the Silk Road G allery and $200,000 in dam age to p ain t ings and other item s in the gallery at3 3 3 S .W .O a k . Portland telev isio n stations reported that w itnesses said they saw som eone throw a flam ing (A P) — Firefighters suspect arson w as the cause o f a fire that dam aged a dow ntow n art gallery early Thursday, forcing the evacu ation o f several upstairs apart ments. N o one w as hurt. Portland fire officials estimated I object into the building shortly before the fire began at about 3 am. M any o f the upstairs residents are disabled and rem ained in their apartm ents during the firg. The fire was under investiga tion. Portland Firefighters will be chec king over 15,000firehydrants in the next four weeks. Fire department officials said homeowners can help by trimming the grass and other plant growth within three feet of any fire hydrant. A lthough firefighters can trim vegetation, they ca n ’t haul away debris, a fire departm ent spokes m an said. Fire crew s will not flow w ater out o f the hydrants during this test, but will be turning on the valves, checking the drains and lubricating the hydrant caps with en v iro n m en tally friendly food grade grease. R esidents may notice a sm all am ount o f sedim ent in their w ater tem porarily, but the tap w ater will run clear after flow ing a few m in utes. Fire hydrants in Portland be long to the Portland W ater Bu reau, but are used by the Portland Fire Bureau to fight fires. N EW S E A S O N S M A R K E T Skorfoake, Geruffi SATURDAY 1 1 A M -5 P M D o m e s tic V iolence P revention Fund, a local o rg an izatio n th a t h elp s s u p p o rt tw elve d o m e s tic vio le n ce a g e n c ie s in o u r Tri-C ounty area. Tfo frizndtietf sfora in imen. E A S Y & F U N C O N C O R D IA N E 3 3 rd A K illin g s w o r t h P o r tla n d O R 9 7 2 1 1 5 0 3 2 Ö 8 3 8 .3 8 O pen 8am I 10 p m TO S H O P ORENCO • S T A T IO N L O C A L L Y O W N E D R A L E IG H H IL L S & O P E R A T E D SELLW OO D N E 6 1 s t A C o r n e ll R d 7.300 S W B e a v e r t o n H i l l s d a l e H w y 12 14 S E T a c o m a H ills b o r o O R 9 7 1 2 4 P o r tla n d O R 9 7 2 2 5 P o r tla n d O R 9 7 2 0 2 5 0 3 .6 4 8 6 9 6 8 O pen 8am 10pm I 503 292 6838 5 0 3 .2 3 0 4 9 4 9 O p e n 8 a m - 9 p m O p e n 8 a m -1 0 p m I
