Police official quits after sexual harassment investigation

Lakewood's assistant police chief, Tim Lopez, has resigned after an internal investigation found he dated and sexually harassed subordinates.

Lopez, 42, violated department policies by having romantic relationships with two women in his chain of command and later sexually harassing them, according to documents obtained by The News Tribune. He also sexually harassed another female subordinate, and other women in the department reported inappropriate comments, investigators found.

Lopez's lawyer, Robert Christie, said his client made some personal decisions for which he accepts full responsibility, but they didn't interfere with his work.

Guilty plea entered over tax evasion

A former contract worker for the U.S. Postal Service has pleaded guilty to tax evasion for failing to report more than $500,000 in income.

Guy V. Flake of Sumner admitted in a plea agreement that he underpaid income taxes by at least $142,000. Flake, 51, will be sentenced in December. He faces up to five years in prison.

Under a postal contract to install and maintain secured mailboxes, Flake earned $2.1 million between 1998 and 2000. But in 1999, Flake reported to the Internal Revenue Service just $573,000 of the $1 million he earned. In 2000, he under-reported his income by $43,000.

2 men plead guilty to distributing pot

Two men who headed up a drug-trafficking ring have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

Kayak William Thomas, 28, of Seattle, and Sung Min Kim, 34, of Lake Forest Park, said they sold 6,400 pounds of marijuana, said Adam Cornell, special assistant U.S. attorney and a deputy Snohomish County prosecutor.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour is scheduled to sentence Thomas and Kim on Jan. 5. The two face a minimum of five years in prison, Cornell said.

The cases of four other men are pending.

Whidbey Iraq unit is due home today

An explosives unit from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island is returning home after a seven-month mission in Iraq.

Explosive Ordnance Mobile Unit 11 and its 43 members were to return today, said Kimberly Martin, base spokeswoman.

In Iraq, the unit supported the Army's 101st Airborne Division. It also completed more than 3,500 missions involving explosive devices. Its members cleared roads of 38 tons of explosives.

100-year sentence reduced to 17 years

A man who had been sentenced to 100 years in prison for robbing Tacoma-area drug dealers has been given a 17 ½-year prison term. The state Court of Appeals had earlier dismissed 10 kidnapping convictions that had accounted for 80 years of the 100-year sentence.

Jacob Korum, 28, of Edgewood, King County, was sentenced Friday in Pierce County Superior Court for the 1997 robberies in which he and four friends posed as sheriff's deputies and robbed five houses at gunpoint.

After the five were arrested, they made plea deals for sentences between six and 23 years.

But Korum, who was serving an 11-year sentence, went to trial after he withdrew his guilty plea. Prosecutors doubled the charges against Korum and in 2001 he was convicted of 30 crimes and sentenced to 100 years in prison.

The Court of Appeals in Tacoma dismissed 10 kidnapping convictions, saying they were an inherent part of the robberies. The state Supreme Court last month upheld that ruling, saying the state did not appeal that finding properly.

The high court, however, overturned part of the appellate court's decision and found prosecutors acted within their discretion in doubling the number of charges against Korum.

The outcome left Korum facing a sentence of about 13 to 20 years for 20 robbery, burglary and assault convictions.

He has already served more than eight years.

Port Ludlow man dies from injuries

A Port Ludlow, Jefferson County, man has died from injuries sustained in an Aug. 8 automobile accident near Renton.

John Skeel, 89, died Sept. 3.

The accident occurred just before 9 p.m. on state Highway 900 at 151st Avenue Southeast. Skeel and his wife, Mary, 84, were passengers in a sedan driven by their daughter, Mary Luedke, of Normandy Park.

A westbound vehicle driven by Alfredo Ramos Hernandez, 23, of Renton, crossed the center line and hit Luedke's vehicle nearly head-on.

State Patrol authorities say Ramos failed to notice that a truck in front of him had slowed to make a left turn and braked heavily. He declined medical attention and was cited for driving over the center line and driving without a license or insurance.

Seattle Times staff and The Associated Press