Local News

<< Previous   of   Next >> Marysville Fire Department photo  (click to enlarge) An early morning fire gutted a house on Friday. No one was home at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Saturday, July 19, 2008 Local Briefly: Police searching for elderly missing man STANWOOD -- Police are searching for a 94-year-old man who was last seen in his car at a gas station in east Stanwood on Friday afternoon. Authorities believe George Wyrsch, who has dementia, might be heading to his former home in the North Bend area. They also believe he might be driving to California, where he used to go for vacations. Wyrsch is described as a white male standing 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing 235 pounds with gray hair and blue eyes. He may be driving a dark burgundy 2001 Lexus sedan with Washington plate numbers of 227 MLY. His family told investigators he is used to driving long distances. Anyone seeing Wyrsch or the vehicle is asked to call 911. Marysville: Fire destroys house A Marysville-area home was destroyed by fire Friday morning. No one was home when the blaze broke out at a house in the 2500 block of 74th Drive NE. A passerby spotted smoke billowing from the house and called 911, Marysville Fire spokeswoman Stephanie Price said. Firefighters arrived just before 6:30 a.m. to find the house engulfed by fire. Flames were shooting 20 feet in the air, Price said. Firefighters quickly determined no one was inside and battled the blaze from outside the house. No other homes were threatened, Price said. A man lived at the home part-time, she said. He has another place to stay. Firefighters from Lake Stevens, Getchell and Tulalip Bay also helped battle the fire. The Snohomish County Fire Marshal Office is investigating. Lynnwood: Accident closes Highway 99 Highway 99 was closed down for a half-hour Friday evening after a motorcyclist and a car collided, according to Lynnwood police. The accident occurred about 5:30 p.m. near the highway's intersection with 200th Street SW. One side of the highway was open by 6 p.m., and all lanes were open by 6:30 p.m., Lynnwood police spokeswoman Shannon Sessions said. The motorcyclist, a 37-year-old man, was treated for injuries at Stevens Memorial Hospital. A man and a woman in the car, both from Edmonds, were uninjured, Sessions said. Lake Stevens: Fire burns garage No one was injured and a nearby house was spared when firefighters put out a garage fire in Lake Stevens on Friday afternoon. A passerby who saw smoke discovered the fire about 2:20 p.m. in the 1900 block of 114th Avenue NE. He alerted people who were in the house about 10 feet away from the burning garage, Lake Stevens battalion chief Perry Putnam said. Firefighters from Lake Stevens, Getchell and Granite Falls extinguished the flames. The damage bill from the fire was unknown Friday night. The fire is under investigation by the Lake Stevens Police Department and the Lake Stevens fire marshal. Seattle: Man sentenced for fraud An Everett man was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison on Friday for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Rodney D. Goodwin, 40, is accused of stealing personal information from victims to create false identity documents, according to court records. Goodwin used the bogus documents to steal money from victims' bank accounts, cash phony checks and use other people's credit cards, federal prosecutors said. He prowled cars and stole mail and in one case he broke into an Edmonds real estate company to steal personal information. At the time of his arrest he had equipment allowing him to secretly steal the personal information numbers from debit and credit cards, according to prosecutors. Goodwin pleaded guilty July 11. From Herald staff reports Wenatchee: Camano Island man sentenced for timber theft A Camano Island man who stole some rare old-growth timber near Lake Wenatchee has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle in Spokane also ordered Kevin J. Moran to pay $37,688.77 for the value of the trees. Moran pleaded guilty in December to theft of federal property, admitting he cut down 27 old-growth cedar trees in April 2004 and sold them to mills in Western Washington. The trees, at least five feet in diameter, were 400 to 600 years old and were taken from 20 acres near the White River. Moran, 49, owned property next to the Forest Service property where the trees were cut. Court records say he initially told investigators he didn't know who cut the trees, then later said he cut them, but thought they were on his property. Moran was sentenced Tuesday. The Wenatchee World

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