Two men are being sought by Kennewick police for allegedly robbing a 31-year-old Kennewick man at gunpoint Sunday night.
The victim told police that he was robbed around 9:45 p.m. after meeting up with a woman he met on Facebook, Kennewick police said.
They apparently met at a motel on 27th Avenue, and when she arrived he got into her car and they drove to a nearby church to smoke marijuana, police said.
The victim told police he is a medical marijuana user.
Two men approached him while he was in the car, and one pointed a revolver at him as the other punched him in the face, police said.
The men took the victim's backpack, wallet and cellphone.
The victim was able to get out of the car and run away. He said the woman he was with pulled up, he got in and she drove to 27th Avenue and Quillan Street.
He then grabbed her phone and called police as the two robbers followed, police said. The victim said he jumped out of the car and started running back to the motel and yelled at the suspects that he was calling 911, police said.
The men then jumped into an older brown or gold four-door vehicle, which officers later found unoccupied and towed.
The woman left in her car, police said.
The victim was able to positively identify one suspect and investigators have tentatively identified the second man. Police said the second suspect has warrants for his arrest and is believed to be armed with a revolver.
The woman was contacted at her Burbank home and taken to the police station for questioning.
No arrests had been made as of Monday afternoon.
Car in middle of road leads to arrests for meth
A car stopped in the middle of the road early Sunday caught the attention of Richland cops and landed two men in jail on meth charges, police said.
Officers saw the Honda in the middle of the 1600 block of Thayer Drive at 2 a.m. Sunday and noticed the steering column was damaged, said Capt. Mike Cobb.
When the passenger, Darren Yeater, 21, of Richland, was contacted, officers saw a bag of what appeared to be methamphetamine inside a door panel and a glass pipe on the seat, Cobb said.
The driver, James R. Morris, 28, of Kennewick, was found at a nearby home and officers learned he had five warrants out for his arrest, including one for distributing meth, he said.
A bag of suspected meth, multiple glass pipes, electronic scales, drug packaging materials, two bags of marijuana and pills that appear to be hydrocodone and prednisone were seized when officers searched the car, Cobb said.
Two more containers with suspected meth and $396 in cash also were found, he said.
Morris and Yeater were arrested and booked into the Benton County jail on suspicion of possessing meth with intent to deliver.
2 jailed for metal theft after truck stuck in field
Two Irrigon residents were arrested Monday after their pickup truck loaded down with $3,000 worth of stolen metal got stuck in a Hermiston field, police said.
Officers were called to Circle C. Equipment around 6:30 a.m. after employees spotted a suspicious 1987 Dodge truck on the property, said Hermiston police Lt. Jason Edmiston.
Officers found the two occupants, who had left the truck, nearby and questioned them about their truck, the metal and why they were in the field.
James Daniel Riley, 25, and Christina Marie Kettlewell, 38, were arrested and booked into the Umatilla County jail on suspicion of first-degree theft.
Officials investigate suspicious package
An Oregon bomb squad investigated then destroyed a suspicious package found in a vacant lot Sunday morning in Hermiston.
Hermiston police responded about 10:50 a.m. to the vacant lot on the southeast corner of West Orchard Avenue and South First Street for report of a "suspicious device found" on the ground.
Officers secured the scene and requested assistance from the Oregon State Police Bomb Squad. The bomb squad responded within minutes and safely destroyed the device made from PVC piping.
Evidence will be sent to the crime lab for analysis.
Traffic was affected for about two hours. Umatilla County sheriff's deputies helped with traffic control.
No further information is available pending results from the crime lab, police said.
Officials seek man who took wallet from store
Kennewick police and Tri-Cities Crime Stoppers are seeking help identifying a man who took a wallet left behind at a Kennewick grocery store.
The wallet was left Saturday night at a register at the Red Apple Market, 902 S. Washington St. Cash and a debit card was inside.
The man who took the wallet is described as having long, bushy hair down to his shoulders and he was wearing jeans and a dark polo shirt that had a logo on the left side of his chest.
Tri-Cities Crime Stoppers pays a cash reward of up to $1,000 for information that results in a felony arrest.
Anyone with information about the suspect can call 586-8477 or visit www.tricitiescrimestoppers.org. Tips can also be sent by text message by writing "Text TIP 411" plus the message to CRIMES (274637).
All calls to Crime Stoppers are confidential.
-- Paula Horton: 582-1556; phorton@tricityherald.com
