BOISE -- We are learning much more about the former Boise Police officer accused of lewd conduct with children.

Stephen Young, 58, appeared before an Ada County judge Monday afternoon.

Young worked for the Boise Police Department for more than 30 years and as a school resource officer for 10 years.

We learned in court Monday that the investigation against him dates back 30 years.

Young appeared before the judge through video conferencing, dressed in a dark blue uniform from the jail.

He did not make any comments and barely had any reaction when the judge formally read the charges against him.

Prosecutors say those charges include four counts of lewd conduct dating back to 2005, and as recent as 2008.  The four victims are children ranging in ages from one month old to 21 months old.

We also learned that more charges are expected.

The prosecutor says they know of 13 people who have come forward saying they too were victimized by Young.    

Boise Police say that Young was an elementary school resource officer assigned to several elementary schools on the Boise Bench from 1995 to 2000.  In 2000, he moved to South Junior High, and then on to Boise High until 2005.

A spokesperson for the police department says there is no implication that the criminal allegations had anything to do with Young being an officer.

Detectives arrested him on Friday just five days after he retired from the Boise Police Department.

The spokesperson says there were no allegations made while Young was still employed.

Young turned himself in after he retired.

Authorities say the abuse could extend back 30 years and more victims are being identified.

The prosecutor would not explain or elaborate anymore because this is an ongoing investigation.  More charges are expected.
   
The judge set Young's bond at $250,000 and ordered him not to have any contact with the victims.

His preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 22.

CALDWELL -- Vallivue High School in Caldwell was put in lockdown for nearly three hours today after the school received a bomb threat.

Principal Richard Brulotte says a student found the threat written on a stall in the boy's bathroom and notified school officials.

The school alerted police and the bomb squad was called out.  Police, along with bomb-sniffing dogs, and school personnel combed the campus and searched every locker, but failed to find a bomb.

Students were evacuated out to the football field.  They were allowed to return to the classroom around 1'50 p.m.

Brulotte said they always have to take this type of threat seriously.  He hopes the person who wrote the threat on the bathroom stall will be caught.

NAMPA -- A suspected drunk driver is in police custody after Nampa Police say he caused a two-car accident at Midland Boulevard and Orchard Avenue Monday afternoon.

Officers received a call about a man driving erratically, but were unable to locate the man until after the accident.

When police arrived at the crash scene they found a maroon SUV and a silver passenger car badly damaged.  None of the people inside the vehicles were injured, however the man in the SUV was uncooperative with police and did not want to leave his vehicle.  Police used a Taser to subdue the man, who was then strapped to a stretcher and taken to the hospital.

Nampa Police say Steven Ugalde, 31, was later arrested and booked into the Canyon County Jail on charges of DUI, resisting and obstructing police and felony injury to a child.

Maria Darling-Thompson witnessed the accident and sent us six photos via her Blackberry.

She e-mailed us that a fireman was holding a baby taken from the man's car.  Police say the infant was put in the custody of Health and Welfare.

BOISE -- Boise Police are asking the public's help in identifying a woman who may have information about the theft of an elderly man's wallet from a local grocery store.

The theft occurred Feb. 24 at a store on Fairview Avenue in Boise. 

The victim left his wallet on a counter while bagging his items. When he went to pick up the wallet, it was gone.  Several hundred dollars in cash was stolen.

Detectives say the woman in the photos was apparently near the man in the check out line and may have information about the theft.  She was with a young girl who appeared to be between 4 and 6 years old.  

Her vehicle is a silver SUV with a sun roof.

Anyone who can identify the woman in the photos is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 343-COPS.
 

COEUR D'ALENE -- Police in northern Idaho say a robber demanded a controlled drug from a local pharmacy, and then threw some cash on the counter to pay for it before fleeing.

The Kootenai County Sheriff's Department says the man went to the prescription counter at a Hayden-area Walgreens Monday night and asked the pharmacist for a drug. Lt. Stu Miller says that when the man was told he needed a prescription, the man told the pharmacist he was robbing her.

The Spokesman Review reports that once she gave him the drug, Miller says the robber put some money on the counter and then left the store.

The man is described as white, in his mid-40s, about 5-feet, 10-inches tall and as having a mustache.

IDAHO COUNTY – Idaho County authorities were able to locate a hunter who got lost in a snow storm Monday night thanks to the help of a Good Samaritan and an air horn.

Sheriff’s deputies received a call for help at 6'30 p.m. on a broken cell phone call that came from the Crane Creek area near Kooskia.

Deputy Mike Badgley was dispatched to the area where the call came from.  Directions were vague and it was snowing heavily.  Badgley followed tracks in the snow to the residence of Phillip Smith.

Smith offered to help the deputy and the two men set to locate the lost man.  They located and found fresh tracks that led them to 26-year-old Eric Lycan of Kooskia who had called dispatch.  Lycan and 27-year-old Scott Rollins had been out horn hunting and got separated by the storm.  It had been three hours since Lycan had contact with Rollins who was not dressed for the weather.

Rollins managed to send a text message to another person with Lycan telling them he wanted them to fire up the chain saw.  Badgley sounded his siren and air horn for about 40 minutes before Rollins emerged from the forest.  He was wet and cold, but otherwise in good health.
 
 

BOISE -- A Ketchum man is gaining ground -- and is now in 57th place in the big Iditarod race in Alaska!

The race began Sunday in Willow, Alaska.

The mushers will spend the next two to three weeks racing across some of the harshest terrain in sub-zero temperatures.

Trent Herbst is a 4th grade teacher from Ketchum.

This is his fourth time competing in the Iditarod.

On his blog are photos of him and his fourth grade students at the beginning of the race in Willow, Alaska.

On day two of the race, Trent was in 64th place -- but now he is rising in the rankings, and is in 57th.

If you'd like to check out Trent's Web site and blog -- we've made it easy for you, simply log onto KTVB.COM and click on the Hotlinks.

POCATELLO -- A nurse at the Bannock County Jail in eastern Idaho has pleaded guilty stealing prescription medication intended for inmates.

Margaret R. Kirby, of Grace, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception or subterfuge, and one count of changing out a drug for one of a lower quality.

Two other felony charges were dropped in exchange.

According to police, Kirby would pick up the prescriptions at the pharmacy and then switch them out with less potent medication.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – One of two U.S. Baptist missionaries still held on kidnapping charges in Haiti was released Monday, but the group's leader remained in custody.

Charisa Coulter was taken from her jail cell to the airport by U.S. Embassy staff more than a month after she and nine other Americans were arrested for trying to take 33 children out of Haiti after the earthquake.

Coulter, wearing a red tank top and sunglasses, declined comment as she quickly got into an SUV that took her to the airport.

We learned from Idaho Sen. Jim Risch's office that Coulter boarded a flight bound for Miami just after 3 p.m. Mountain Time.

Monday night, her father Mel said his daughter is staying at a Miami hotel and wanted nothing more than a warm bath and a clean bed. He says she has not made any immediate plans to come back to Boise and just wants to rest up and recover from her ordeal. He also says she has mixed emotions about her return.  She is glad to be back but misses her friend Laura Silsby.

Defense attorney Louis Ricardo Chachoute said Coulter was released because there was no evidence to support the charges of kidnapping and criminal association. He predicted Laura Silsby, the leader of the Idaho-based missionary group, would be released soon as well.

"There are no prosecution witnesses to substantiate anything," Chachoute said.

Coulter, of Meridian, Idaho, is a diabetic, and had medical difficulties during her confinement. She was treated at least once on Feb. 1 by American doctors after collapsing with what she said was either severe dehydration or the flu.

Silsby, the leader of the Idaho-based missionaries, was in another part of the city — in a closed hearing before the judge who had previously said he expected to release the two Americans.

NewsChannel 7 spoke with Laura Silsby's sister Kim Barton Monday afternoon.   She told us Coulter's release is great news and she remains hopeful Laura will be released soon, even though the judge has decided to keep her for more questioning.

Barton says she's close with Charisa's parents and spoke with them today.  She says they were obviously excited their daughter is headed home.  The Americans, most from Idaho, were detained on Jan. 29 while trying to leave the country without proper documents to remove the children. Their arrest came as Haitian authorities were trying to crack down on unauthorized adoptions to prevent child trafficking in the chaos following the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake.

Silsby initially said the children were orphaned in a quake that the government said has killed more than 230,000 people. But it was later found that the children had been given away by still-living parents.

Chachoute said the Americans had only come to Haiti to help the country. "Firstly, there was no criminal conspiracy; secondly, there was no child snatching," he said.

The group planned to take the children to the neighboring Dominican Republic to an orphanage Silsby was creating in a former hotel.

The judge released eight of the Americans on Feb. 17 after concluding the parents voluntarily gave up their children in the belief that the Americans would give them a better life. But he decided that he still had additional questions for Silsby and Coulter.

BOISE -- The Idaho Lottery is still waiting for the winner of a $1 million Powerball ticket to realize their new found wealth.

Lottery officials say a winning ticket was sold by a vendor in the small town of Irwin, in southeast Idaho and about 12 miles from the Wyoming border. The winning ticket emerged from the drawing Saturday night.

While the winning ticket did not match the Powerball number, it did match every other number and has the PowerPlay option, making it worth an automatic $1 million.

Idaho Lottery Director Jeff Anderson says anyone who bought a Powerball ticket in eastern Idaho recently to check their tickets carefully.

Under rules, players have 180 days to claim prizes from lottery offices in Boise.

LEWISTON -- Jury selection has begun in the first-degree murder trial of a Lewiston man accused of strangling his wife to death on Valentine's Day.

Thirty-nine-year-old Gary W. Mallory II faces life in prison if convicted in the death of Charlene M. Mabie.

Prosecutors say 48-year-old Mabie was found dead in the basement bedroom of the couple's Lewiston home on Feb. 14, 2009.

Mallory has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and felony domestic battery in the case.

The Lewiston Tribune reports jury selection began Monday, and opening arguments are slated to begin Wednesday.

BOISE -- The state plans to open another charter school in Nampa, despite objections from one of Idaho's largest school districts.

There are four charter schools operating in the community, with one more set to open this fall and another approved to begin classes in 2011. That's more than any other city in the state and Nampa School District officials say the rapid growth has exacerbated their budget woes.

The district's governing board failed recently to convince Idaho officials to hold off approving new charter schools until the state's budget crisis is stabilized.

Idaho's Public Charter School Commission last week approved Legacy Charter School, modeled after two other popular charter schools in Nampa, to open in the community next year.

BOISE -- The television station that broadcasts the Legislature and Sesame Street's Big Bird across Idaho appears likely to escape budget cuts of the magnitude Gov. Butch demanded at the start of the 2010 session.

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Tuesday voted 19-0 to set Idaho Public Television's government funding at $2.413 million, down 8.3 percent from the current fiscal year.

Just 16 percent, or $269,000, is being trimmed from the state taxpayers' share, half of Otter's Jan. 11 proposal when he announced plans to phase out state taxpayer support by 2014.

Otter originally said government-backed TV had grown superfluous, but the Republican chief later said his proposed phase-out came only after public TV manager Peter Morrill didn't respond adequately to his demands for austerity in late 2009.

Morrill said Tuesday he's doing his best to meet Otter's demands.

BOISE -- Idaho House members are taking aim at the federal government's authority to regulate guns made and sold in Idaho.

The measure approved 52-17 along party lines Tuesday declares that firearms manufactured and sold in the state should not be subject to federal buyer background checks and dealer licensing rules.

If it becomes a state law, GOP supporters expect it will be challenged in the courts. A similar law adopted in Montana last year is now in federal court.

St. Maries Republican Rep. Dick Harwood welcomes the chance to defend the law. He says federal courts have interpreted the U.S. Constitution too broadly, cutting into the rights of states to regulate themselves.

Democratic opponents say defending the law would be a waste of money. The Idaho Attorney General also says the law could be struck down if used to regulate firearms in ways that conflict with federal law.

BOISE -- State lawmakers plan to give Idaho's four-year public universities about $32.1 million less in total funding during the next fiscal year.

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Tuesday agreed on a budget that proposes spending roughly $377.7 million on the University of Idaho, Idaho State University, Boise State University and Lewis-Clark State College.

The budget represents a loss of nearly 8 percent compared to the current fiscal year.

The committee agreed to slash 12.6 percent in total spending on community colleges and approved a budget that spends $25 million on the schools during the next fiscal year, or about $3.6 million less compared to this year.

BOISE -- Substance abuse programs through the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare could be working with less money next year.

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee voted 17-3 for a $28.7 million budget, down from more than $30 million this fiscal year.

The substance abuse programs that fall under this budget help about 14,000 people per year.  A majority of the people in these programs come from the criminal justice system and are in community-based treatment programs.

The programs also help pregnant women and women with dependent children.

Democrats including Rep. Shirley Ringo, from Moscow, and Sen. Nicole LeFavour, from Boise, lamented that the Republican-dominated Legislature had fallen short of policy changes to bring in more revenue to fund drug treatment that helps keep people out of more-costly prisons.

Sen. Jim Hammond, a Republican from Coeur d'Alene, said the drug-treatment "glass" remains "seven-eighths full."

Hammond said, "We can wring our hands and express sorrow we don't have a full glass. Or we could have no glass at all."

A spokesperson with Idaho Health and Welfare says this recommended budget won't allow them to provide the same level of support because they'll have less money to work with.

Program Manager of the Office of Drug Policy, Sharon Burke, says these holdbacks have impacted their budget in the past, but they're going to make due with what they have.

Burke says she doesn't know how these possible cuts could impact their programs, she says she'll have to meet with the Idaho Interagency Committee on Substance Abuse Prevention to determine specifics.

A complete budget for Idaho Health and Welfare won't be set by JFAC until Thursday.

BOISE -- A state lawmaker's plan to make public education spending more transparent would require Idaho school districts and more than a dozen charter schools to upload their checkbooks online.

The House Education Committee voted Tuesday to introduce Rep. Phil Hart's bill.

The Athol Republican says his measure would require school districts with 300 or more students to detail spending in downloadable documents available online by the end of 2010.

School districts would have to upload their finances into a searchable Web site by the end of 2011, under the plan.

The measure is modeled after similar efforts nationwide to bring more transparency to public spending and would include 84 of Idaho's 115 school districts.

Hart says 16 of the state's 36 charter schools have at least 300 students and would have to participate.

BOISE -- Senators voted 20-14 to require bikes be outfitted with at least one brake.

The bill was in a bicycle safety and responsibility package from Boise Democratic Sen. Elliot Werk.

Werk said Tuesday he wants to make sure that so-called "fixies" -- those hip, single-speed bicycles styled after big-city messenger bikes -- have stopping devices. Many don't now.

Werk says, "There's no coaster brake. There's no brake on the bike whatsoever."

Foes seemed piqued by the notion of government stepping further into the freewheeling realm of two-wheeled transit.

Sen. Jeff Siddoway, a Terreton Republican, argued government shouldn't be trying to tell people everything.

The bill now goes to the House.

A second Werk bill, to adds a $75 civil penalty to all infractions involving bicycles, failed 7-27.

There are two more bike-related bills pending in the Senate.

BOISE -- The city of Boise will hold a celebration event on Saturday, March 13 in honor of Olympic silver medalist Jeret "Speedy" Peterson.

Peterson won the silver medal in the men's freestyle aerials skiing at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games last month after landing his famous "hurricane" on the final jump.

The celebration event kicks off at 9 a.m. and will feature a "Champion's Run" from the Downtown YMCA to a rally at Boise City Hall Plaza at 9'30 a.m.

Families and children are encouraged to run with Speedy. All runners wishing to participate should arrive at the Downtown YMCA by 9 a.m.   The run will begin at 10th and State streets, run east on State Street, turn south on 9th Street, turn left onto Main Street and proceed east for two blocks before arriving at City Hall.

In an effort to encourage healthy lifestyles, anyone who participates in the run will receive one free family day pass to any Treasure Valley YMCA location.

KTVB's Mark Johnson will emcee the event, which will air live on NewsChannel 7 during the Saturday Morning News.

Peterson will be available to sign autographs following the rally.

PUYALLUP, Wash. - Imagine falling behind on your house payment and winding up in foreclosure only to see strangers move in and claim they can live there! It's happening all over the country - people moving in to vacant homes claiming they're abandoned.

But it's the first time we've reported on it in Western Washington. It's advertised as a way to get real estate for pennies on the dollar, or even free.

But the real question' Is it legal?

Eric and Ashlei Bogue say they were shocked when they drove by their house in Puyallup last weekend and saw someone else moving in.

The Bogues say they had fallen behind on their payments, and moved out a year ago. Unable to sell, the house slipped into foreclosure.

They say they were forced to break into their own home. The locks had been changed. They pried open the garage door. Inside they found living room and bedroom furniture, pictures of strangers and food in the fridge.

“Someone else's decorations, someone else's pictures of their kids on my fridge… blows me away," said Ashlei.

They say some drywall and carpet had been damage.

The new occupants told them they were making a claim to the house because it had been abandoned.

"They told us they were renting it, and that they were doing adverse possession on the property," said Bogue.

Adverse possession is a quirky provision under an old state law that allows people to stake a claim to abandoned property if they openly use it for seven to ten years.

We showed the adverse possession claims filed on the Bogues' home to a real estate attorney.

"What they amount to is some stranger coming in and recording something that looks legal and using that to claim the property. These are not functionally any different than a forged deed," said Gerald Robison.

Robison says "adverse possession" claims are being made all over the country and are even promoted on the Internet and in books as perfectly legal.

"It's taking someone else's property and trying to make money off of it," he explained.

For the Bogues, seeing their house slip into foreclosure was bad enough, but now this.

Eric Bogue says it won’t end tonight

“We’re coming back tomorrow, and we’ll let them take their stuff out of the house," he said.

And he says, he’ll have some words to say to the woman they say who moved in' “Tell her nice try.”

The woman living in the house with her children wouldn't talk to us on camera, but on the phone she said she is paying rent to a property management company that she works for and that they are trying to obtain the property under adverse possession. She says she feels they are actually helping the community by living in a house that was an abandoned eyesore and they feel they're not doing anything wrong.

LIBERTY LAKE, Wash -- Interstate 90 reopened late Monday night in both directions near the Liberty Lake exit, after a one-car wreck critically injured a female driver.

Police say Jessica Derosie, 20, from Coeur d'Alene lost control of her car on eastbound I-90 around 9'30 p.m. Officers say she was driving speeds that reached 100 mph.

Derosie was ejected from her vehicle and thrown about 300 feet from the wreckage. She was airlifted to Sacred Heart Medical Center and is listed in critical condition.

Officers reported the impact to the median cable barrier was so severe, the vehicle knocked several posts and concrete anchors out of the ground.

PORTLAND, Ore. --  A winter storm hampered efforts to find a hiker missing in the Gorge. Katherine Heuther, who's 24th birthday was Monday, left for a day hike near Table Mountain on Thursday and hasn't been seen since.

A new storm brought snow to the Columbia River Gorge.

The last contact from the Portland State University student was a text message she sent to a roommate around 3 p.m. Thursday, March 4, saying she was headed out for a day hike and expected to be back home around 8'30 p.m. that night.

Heuther's roommates reported her overdue to Portland Police when she did not return. Her vehicle was found at the Pacific Crest Trailhead near the Bonneville Dam, just across the river in Washington. That's the starting point of a popular 7-mile hike to Table Mountain.

SLIDESHOW' Search for hiker

Skamania County Sheriff's deputies found her car early March 5 but were unaware that it belonged to a missing Portland woman. Nearly a day would pass before the connection was made. The sheriff's office learned Saturday night that a missing person's report had been filed, which included vehicle registration matching the car that had been found at the trailhead.

Heuther was not thought to be carrying any communications devices; her cell phone was in her car, Undersheriff Dave Cox said. He did not know how prepared she'd been for the hike. Her roommates said she was an experienced hiker but were not sure whether she had a backpack.

The only other clue so far was a credit card receipt with Heuther's name on it, found by another hiker on the trail near Table Mountain.

By Monday afternoon, the search for Huether had expanded to include two helicopters, nine dog teams, more than two dozen search-and-rescue specialists as well as friends.  

The search was focused on a a 12-square-mile area where the Pacific Crest Trail heads north into Washington state, and where Heuther's car was found, empty, early March 5. 

Days lost to searchers

Cox told KGW on Sunday that his office did not learn of a missing person report until Saturday, March 6, at approximately 9 p.m. -- about 20 hours after a deputy first ran a registration check on Heuther's car.

"The Skamania deputy received notification that the vehicle registration owner she had checked the previous evening was now showing as a missing person through the Portland Police [Bureau] through a missing persons report ... " and a search was immediately organized, initially focused in the immediate area, then widened and extended Sunday morning to include resources from police and sheriff's offices spanning both sides of the Gorge, Cox said.

Air support with heat-seeking radar was requested after a hiker on Sunday evening found a credit card receipt belonging to Heuther, searchers said. The receipt was found on Table Mountain.

The U.S. Air Force and Washington National Guard dispatched helicopters Monday afternoon as the storm front moved east. Snow was reported in Cascade passes and had fallen as far north as Seattle, although Gorge temperatures hovered in the low 40s, according to KGW First Alert Storm Team meteorologists.

 Heuther's parents live in New Jersey.