Offenses against children seemed to be a dominant theme in the Wood River Valley crime scene in 2006, as felony charges were filed and pursued against several men accused of improper conduct with adolescents.
But there were other Page 1 crime stories as well, including an armed robbery at a Ketchum convenience store, a smash-and-grab jewelry heist on Sun Valley Road and the biggest drug bust in Blaine County history.
Former airport security guard Robert Joe Harrison Jr. went to trial in September for allegedly abducting a 10-year-old Hemingway Elementary School student in Ketchum in April. Although the boy was released unharmed, Harrison was charged with second-degree kidnapping.
A Blaine County jury acquitted Harrison of the kidnapping charge, but found him guilty of misdemeanor child enticement, and 5th District Court Judge Robert Elgee sentenced him to six months in jail. Harrison has since appealed his conviction to the Idaho Supreme Court.
Earlier this month, two men, accused of intoxicating and raping two Hailey girls last summer, pleaded guilty in 5th District Court to a single count each of felony lewd conduct with a minor child under 16. Though considered a lesser offense than rape, the charge is still punishable by up to life in prison in Idaho.
Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 12 for Emmanuel Bautista-Aguayo and Jose Vivar-Olivera. Both are 22 and from Hailey.
The pair was accused of coercing the two Hailey girls, ages 12 and 13, into a vehicle on July 26, getting them drunk, driving them to a remote area up Slaughterhouse Canyon and having sex with them.
In a more recent incident, another Hailey man has been charged with lewd conduct with a minor child under 16 for alleged sexual involvement with a 4-year-old girl.
Twenty-four-year-old Ovidio Ricaldi-Villajuan was accused of improper conduct following a party in November at a Winterhaven Drive residence in southeastern Hailey.
At about 6 a.m. on Nov. 11, the Blaine County Sheriff's Office received a 911 emergency call. According to the call log, the woman reported that she found a man with her 4-year-old daughter and that the child's pants had been removed.
Sex charges are also pending against former youth lacrosse coach Douglas Drury Cooper, a 43-year-old Hailey man accused of having sex with a 14-year-old Hailey girl.
Jury trial is scheduled to start in January.
Cooper has been indicted by a Blaine County grand jury on four felony charges, including rape, lewd conduct with a minor child under 16, sexual abuse of a child under 16, and enticing a minor over the Internet.
Elsewhere, Ketchum police have been unable to solve the "smash-and-grab" robbery at Barry Peterson Jewelers in the early morning hours of Nov. 22. Using what is believed to have been a sledgehammer, one or more thieves smashed three front windows and the inside display cases, grabbed a substantial amount of goods and made their getaway.
Ketchum police suspect the robbery was committed by out-of-area professionals.
Ketchum was also the scene of an armed robbery in August when a 17-year-old Hailey youth allegedly used a 12-guage shotgun to steal a 12-pack of Keystone Light beer from Veltex Market.
Judge Elgee later ordered a mental evaluation for Samuel Samudio, who has been charged with three felonies, robbery, second-degree kidnapping and assault with intent to commit a serious felony. Jury trial is scheduled to begin in late January.
Farther south, the Blaine County Sheriff's Office oversaw the biggest illegal drug bust in the county's history when it raided a marijuana growing operation northwest of Carey.
Authorities confiscated some 2,000 4- to 6-feet tall marijuana plants. Eduardo Mariscal-Castellon, 30, and Leobardo Vega, 31, both of Heyburn were later indicted by a Blaine County grand jury on felony charges of trafficking in marijuana and failure to affix drug tax stamps.
Blaine County law enforcement officials burn thousands of marijuana plants uprooted near Carey last September. Photo by David N. Seelig
