Eastern Idaho police warn of dangerous, fake pain killers
POCATELLO, Idaho — Police in eastern Idaho are warning residents that counterfeit pain pills laced with a dangerous synthetic opioid have been found in the region.
The Pocatello Police Department said a bag of about 3,000 pills that contained fentanyl — but were disguised to look like less-potent oxycodone — were found at a local trailhead on Thursday. Investigators fear the pills could cause lethal overdoses.
“These pills are extremely dangerous and essentially impossible to discern as being fake or legitimate by appearance alone,” said Pocatello Police Capt. Bill Collins. “We have seen lots of overdoses in our area because of fentanyl, which we have found laced with methamphetamine, heroin and other pills. We don’t want anyone touching them and we certainly don’t want anyone to ingest them.”
Collins said the Pacific Northwest region has been “inundated” with similar pills in recent months “but we haven’t seen them left out in the open in this quantity before.”
The 3,000 or so pills — with a street value Collins said is somewhere around $60,000 — are colored and marked to resemble Oxycodone 30 mg, a commonly prescribed medication for chronic or severe pain. Fentanyl is a controlled substance about 100 times more potent than morphine that is usually used to treat patients with chronic or severe pain after a surgery.
Boise police remove ‘Proud Boys’ flags from Idaho interstate
BOISE — The Boise Police Department says officers removed flags emblazoned with the emblem of the neo-fascist Proud Boys organization after someone hung them from several overpasses on a busy Idaho interstate.
Police spokesperson Haley Williams told the Idaho Statesman that officers removed the flags on Saturday morning. It wasn’t immediately clear who hung up the flags on Interstate 84 overpasses in Boise, but Williams said anyone with information should contact the police department.
The Proud Boys are considered a hate group by organizations like the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Proud Boys members describe themselves as a politically incorrect men’s club for “Western chauvinists.” Several members of the group have been charged in federal court with offenses related to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The flags mark the second recent public display from the neo-fascist group in southern Idaho. Proud Boys members marched in a Sagebrush Days community parade in Buhl in early July, raising concerns for many. At the time, the Buhl Chamber of Commerce which organizes the parade told The Times-News newspaper in Twin Falls that it wouldn’t “feed into any negative propaganda” about the Proud Boys’ appearance.
Deer in Anacortes test positive for viral infection
ANACORTES, Wash. — At least one deer in northeast Anacortes has died as a result of a viral infection, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Robert Waddell, the district wildlife biologist for Skagit and Whatcom counties, said testing of tissue samples from a buck found dead July 18 near Cap Sante Park confirmed the animal had adenovirus hemorrhagic disease, the Skagit Valley Herald reported.
The lab is now examining samples from a fawn found dead July 25 in the same area. The results are expected next week. There have been at least five fawns, one buck and one doe found dead in the area this month, likely because of AHD.
The presence of the disease in Anacortes follows its spread in the San Juan Islands earlier this year. The disease does not pose a risk to livestock, pets or people, but anyone who sees live or dead deer with signs of AHD are asked to report it.
Infected deer may have symptoms including rapid or open-mouth breathing, foaming or drooling from the mouth, diarrhea, weakness and emaciation. Because the disease spreads directly from deer to deer, officials ask the public not to provide food or water for the animals to avoid deer congregation.
Employee attacked in county courthouse bathroom, one arrested
SEATTLE — A 35-year-old man was arrested inside the King County Courthouse after Seattle police say he hid in a restroom and attacked a woman who works at the courthouse.
Police spokesperson Sgt. Randy Huserik said a sheriff’s deputy walking by the restroom Thursday heard the woman’s screams and intervened, The Seattle Times reported.
Huserik said the man was interviewed by Seattle police sexual assault detectives and was expected to be booked into the King County Jail. He said the woman didn’t require medical treatment.
In an email sent to employees in the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for prosecutor Dan Satterberg, characterized the incident as an attempted rape.
The suspect was described as being homeless. Ongoing safety concerns for staff and court visitors has prompted recent debate over whether the encampment’s residents should be moved out of a nearbt park.
The man arrested Thursday was released from jail July 23 after serving nearly two years for indecent liberties with forcible compulsion and assault with sexual motivation among other charges.
