Ex-Husky player sentenced in fraud

A former co-captain of the University of Washington football team was sentenced on Friday to 3 ½ years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of more than $1.1 million by a federal judge.
 
Matthew D. Jones, a former Huskies fullback, last June pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a scheme known as the "Miracle Car Deal" in which purchasers were told that a wealthy individual had recently died and left his estate of luxury cars. The estate, in turn, was looking to sell the vehicles at discounted prices to avoid tax consequences. In fact, neither the estate nor cars existed.
Prosecutors noted that in an unusual twist, Jones was himself a victim of the scam and testified against others during a federal trial in Missouri in 2003.
 
But Jones later used the same Miracle Car Deal scheme to defraud a different set of investors, prosecutors said.

 

Jones' defense attorneys did not return phone calls late Friday.

Jones, 35, also was sentenced to three years' supervised release upon his release from prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Bellevue

Memorial service planned for soldier

A memorial service for Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Van Der Horn, who died in Iraq on New Year's Day, will be Thursday.

Sgt. Van Der Horn, 37, served in the Army's 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, out of Fort Campbell, Ky. He was killed when a bomb exploded near his Humvee.

Sgt. Van Der Horn grew up in Beaux Arts Village, near Bellevue, and is survived by his wife, Teresa, and young sons Max and Liam, as well as by his parents, sister and brother.

The memorial service will be at 11:30 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue. At 1 p.m. there will be a motorcade to Tahoma National Cemetery, where a military service will begin at 2 p.m.

A college fund for his sons has been set up at Bank of America under "The Children of SSG Christopher J. Van Der Horn" account.

Seattle

Ex-bus driver gets 3 years for sex abuse

A former driver for a special-needs Metro bus was sentenced Friday to more than three years in prison for sexually abusing a passenger with Down syndrome last year.

Ollie B. Gaines, 24, of Seattle pleaded guilty to one count of indecent liberties and one count of unlawful imprisonment with sexual motivation and was sentenced in King County Superior Court.

Prosecutors said in court documents that Gaines was an Access bus driver who sexually assaulted and exposed himself to a female passenger on the bus in September 2004 even though the woman repeatedly asked him to stop.

Gaines will have to register as a sex offender and is prohibited from employment that puts him in contact with ill or vulnerable adults as a result of his conviction.

Seattle

Father charged in child's death

A father was charged Friday with second-degree murder in the death of his 9-month-old son and ordered held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Christopher J. White, 18, of Federal Way admitted shaking, squeezing and punching Marquise White in the stomach when the baby would not stop crying the morning of Dec. 30, according to court records. White's girlfriend, Shante Williams, the child's mother, called aid crews when she got home from work that afternoon.

The baby died the next day at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Doctors told police the baby had suffered a skull and facial-bone fracture, hemorrhaging of the retinas and injuries to his liver, spleen and kidneys that were consistent with "nonaccidental injury," according to documents.

In court papers, King County prosecutors said an autopsy revealed past injuries that included skull fractures, brain injury, liver and intestinal lacerations and at least seven broken ribs.

Seattle

Fire in vault shuts part of Alaskan Way

Part of Alaskan Way was closed from Yesler to Marion streets Friday afternoon after a vault fire pushed steam into the roadway and darkened streetlights along sections of the waterfront.

The fire was in a City Light vault under Alaskan Way, said utility spokesman Dan Williams. He said the vault contains electrical equipment, such as transformers, and the utility cut off the power after the fire was reported. The loss of power affected some streetlights in the area.

City Light temporarily repaired the vault Friday to restore streetlight service and will make permanent repairs next week.

Federal Way

Passengers play with gun; driver hit

Federal Way police are looking for two boys who apparently were playing with a gun in the back seat of a car when the weapon went off and a bullet struck the 19-year-old driver in the back.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, the injured man and his girlfriend called 911 from a coffee shop at the Commons Mall, said Federal Way police spokeswoman Stacey Flores.

Eventually they told officers that there were two teenage boys from the Everett-area who were with them as they drove south on Pacific Highway South. The boys were playing with a gun and it fired, Flores said. A bullet hit the driver in the back, lodging in his shoulder.

The couple told officers they dropped the teenagers off somewhere in Federal Way before going to the mall and calling police, Flores said. The man was taken to Harborview Medical Center and is expected to survive, she said.

Kennewick

Teen gets 30 years in fatal stabbing

A 15-year-old boy was sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison for fatally stabbing a middle-school teacher during a 2004 robbery attempt.

Benton County Superior Court Judge Karrie Runge imposed the 29-year, nine-month sentence Thursday on Jordan Castillo. Castillo was convicted in November of first-degree murder and first-degree attempted theft in the death of King Robert "Bob" Mars, 44.

Mars, a Kiona-Benton middle-school teacher and high school assistant football coach, was killed Sept. 4, 2004. Mars, who lived in Richland, was stabbed in the stomach during an attack in the hallway at the middle school where he taught.

Last March, co-defendant Robert A. Suarez, then 17, was sentenced to a 26-year, eight-month prison term for his part in the crime.

Times staff and news services