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An 18-year-old man is accused of stealing almost a dozen gold and silver rings from his landlord, then selling the jewelry to cover his rent.
Michael William Eric Currie faces a Dec. 14 trial in Benton County Superior Court on one count of first-degree theft. He pleaded innocent earlier this month.
The theft allegedly occurred between Jan. 1 and Aug. 4.
The owner called Kennewick police to say she suspected Currie and another previous tenant of stealing the items from her home.
She claimed they had admitted taking the goods while still living there, court documents said.
At least 10 rings valued at more than $3,000 were taken.
Currie reportedly told officers that the rings were pawned at a Richland shop and the money used "to pay rent and a storage unit bill," documents said.
Some of the jewelry was recovered from the pawn shop, but several items had already been sold.
Pasco 18-year-old denies check scheme
A Pasco teen has pleaded innocent to allegations she deposited $7,400 total in fraudulent checks at different credit unions, then would return a short time later to withdraw the money from an ATM.
Talibah C. McGary, 18, is scheduled for trial Jan. 20 on first-degree theft. She is charged in Franklin County Superior Court.
The alleged scheme started Oct. 26 when McGary deposited a $3,171 check from Industry Solutions Group LLC at Hapo Community Credit Union's 20th Avenue branch in Pasco. About 45 minutes later she took out $1,585 in cash from the same branch, court documents said.
That same day, McGary went to Hapo's Road 68 location and withdrew another $1,500, documents said. Three minutes later she allegedly went into the credit union with a $4,201 check from the same company. And 13 minutes later, she returned to take out $4,200.
Prosecutors allege that the following day, McGary went to Hapo in Richland and tried to deposit another large check from the same company. When employees said they had to first verify the funds, McGary took the check back and said she would cash it elsewhere, court documents said.
That's when Hapo employees called the bank listed on McGary's check and discovered the checks were all fraudulent, documents said.
McGary allegedly did the same thing at Hapo's Kennewick branch when an immediate deposit request was denied. So when she returned to the 20th Avenue credit union, an employee who had received an alert about McGary met her and said that police were being called, according to court documents.
The employee also told McGary "that the money was going to be taken back out of her account."
McGary left before officers arrived and went to the Road 68 branch, where she asked employees to close her account, documents said.
Pasco police were called and arrested McGary before she could leave.
Man accused of taking laptop from Circuit City
A man is set for trial Dec. 28 on charges he took advantage of a store's liquidation sale to acquire a new laptop computer.
Kirill I. Mazurin, 22, has pleaded innocent in Benton County to second-degree possession of stolen property in the Jan. 16 incident.
Prosecutors allege that Mazurin asked another man to take a Hewlett Packard Special Edition from the now-defunct Circuit City and place it in his open car in the parking lot. The acquaintance did as asked and the transaction was overheard by another man, court documents said.
The computer was worth $720.
Mazurin denies receiving any laptop, documents said.
Man accused of running down security officer
A 24-year-old man is charged with running down a store security officer with his car after stealing a case of beer.
Jose deJesus Villafan of Pasco allegedly drove recklessly for several blocks after the officer jumped on his car's hood to avoid being hit.
Villafan has pleaded innocent to second-degree robbery in Franklin County.
His trial is Jan. 20.
Court documents say Pasco police were called July 10 to a vehicle vs. pedestrian accident at Fiesta Foods. Officers arrived to find the loss prevention officer with dirt and slight swelling on his face after narrowly avoiding having a tire run over his head, court documents said.
Security was reportedly trying to detain Villafan and another man in a beer theft when the suspects jumped in a car and tried to run him over, documents said.
After jumping on the hood as the car was headed for him, the security officer was driven around the parking lot before the car took off down Ninth Avenue without slowing or stopping, court documents said.
At that time, the car's occupants began throwing the beer out of the car while the security officer was still stuck to the hood, documents said.
Villafan, the alleged driver, slammed on the brakes at Clark Street so the guard would fall off the front of the car, according to prosecutors.
The guard then looked up to see the car allegedly coming right for his head. He tried to roll sideways to get out of the way, but the tire hit him on the side of the face.
Store video footage reportedly shows Villafan as one of the suspects leaving the store with a case of beer. He told police he regularly shops at Fiesta Foods for beer, but denied stealing it.
-- Kristin M. Kraemer: 509-582-1531; kkraemer@tricityherald.com
