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May 08,2002
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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
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S H O P
ORENCO
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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
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503 292 6838
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