Insurance company poised to drop Canyon County’s coverage
NAMPA — An insurance company that covers counties and other public entities in Idaho says it won’t renew Canyon County’s insurance policy because of increasing risks and a high volume of claims.
The Idaho Counties Risk Management Program, known as ICRMP, sent a letter to Canyon County officials on May 23, citing “numerous factors including adverse claim development and increasing risk exposures,” the Idaho Press reported. The Nampa-based newspaper obtained the document through public records requests.
Canyon County Public Information Officer Joe Decker said the county’s elected officials couldn’t immediately comment because the situation is onging.
Canyon County Commissioners responded to ICRMP in a June 2 letter that suggested the county might appeal the non-renewal notice. They took issue with the non-renewal decision, saying, “the abruptness and comprehensiveness of this total separation, and the lack of warning or opportunity to cure any perceived issue, is shocking.”
The commissioners also said the insurance company’s documentation showing the county’s “loss history” wasn’t accurate. They said 25 of the claims listed are “unrelated to the county.”
They also said the insurance company was equating so-called “nuisance settlements” — often made when an entity decides that paying someone to end a lawsuit would be cheaper or more convenient than fighting the matter in court — with actual misconduct by the county or its representatives.
Tim Osborne, executive director of ICRMP, said his office is working to coordinate a meeting with Canyon County officials to review the “documentation” of the reasons the board voted to non-renew. After that meeting, Canyon County officials could request a meeting with the board in open session about how to move forward, he said.
Jury selection starts for Patriot Prayer founder riot trial
PORTLAND, Ore. — Far-right Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson’s trial starts this week on one count of felony riot in connection with a brawl outside a Portland bar in 2019.
Jury selection began Monday and is scheduled to continue through Thursday, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported .
Prosecutors allege Gibson instigated a street fight between Patriot Prayer and antifascists on May 1, 2019, at the now-closed bar Cider Riot. In an arrest warrant affidavit, Deputy District Attorney Brad Kalbaugh says video of the brawl shows Gibson and his two co-defendants, “taunting and physically threatening members of the Antifa group in an effort clearly designed to provoke a physical altercation.”
Three other brawl participants with the Patriot Prayer group, Chris Ponte, Ian Kramer and Matthew Cooper were indicted and pleaded guilty.
Kramer, who knocked a woman unconscious and fractured her vertebrae with a baton, pleaded guilty to riot, assault and unlawful use of a weapon. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison and five years of probation.
Ponte, who prosecutors said threw a rock and hurt a woman, pleaded guilty to a riot charge in a plea deal. He was sentenced to three years probation and 10 days in jail. Cooper pleaded guilty to riot and was sentenced to three years probation.
Gibson founded the Vancouver, Wash.,-based Patriot Prayer in 2016, and has held pro-Trump and other rallies repeatedly in Portland and other West Coast cities.
Boat hits 2 tubers on Willamette River, 1 critically injured
NEWBERG, Ore. — A boat ran over two people, injuring one critically, as they were tubing on the Willamette River in Newberg Monday afternoon, the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities responded to the Rogers Landing boat ramp and learned the boat operator struck the two young men while towing them in the water, KOIN-TV reported.
One of them had life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital by helicopter. The other male was taken to Legacy Immanuel hospital in Portland with less severe injuries.
The sheriff’s office said the boat operator showed no signs of impairment. An investigation is ongoing.
Ex-bank manager accused of stealing $1 million from customers
BATTLE GROUND, Wash. — A former southwestern Washington bank manager is accused of stealing more than $1 million from vulnerable customers.
Brian Davie, 43, was arrested Friday in Yakima on charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office statement, The Columbian reported.
The Department of Justice said while Davie was a branch manager at a Wells Fargo in Battle Ground, Wash., he made unauthorized cash withdrawals and money transfers and forged cashier’s checks. Investigators said eight victims include one woman who had over $546,000 stolen from her retirement accounts, according to the statement.
Davie worked at the Battle Ground bank from 2014 until he was fired in 2019, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He allegedly used his access to customer files to forge signatures on cashier’s checks, withdrawal slips and other bank forms, the criminal complaint states.
Davie’s alleged theft went undetected because investigators say he targeted elderly customers who were less likely to check their accounts frequently. Some of the people he allegedly stole from had dementia or limited English skills, according to the DOJ. He’s also accused of failing to file the paperwork making one of the victim’s relatives a co-signer on their accounts, which prevented the relative from seeing the victim’s accounts and the fraud.
Wells Fargo reimbursed the victims for their loss, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
