Tacoma police have arrested a man wanted in connection with a 2004 gang-motivated slaying on Tacoma's East Side.

A warrant had been issued in December 2006 for the arrest of Danny Cherm, 25. At that time, prosecutors had charged him with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 19-year-old Saron Tith.

Tacoma police found him Thursday. Detectives had received information that Cherm was in the area, department spokesman Mark Fulghum said.

"They went out looking for him, located him and he was taken into custody without incident," Fulghum said.

Cherm was booked into Pierce County Jail on the murder warrant and unlawful possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver.

Cherm was one of the longest tenured faces on the Tacoma Police Department's Most Wanted list.

He is one of three men charged with shooting Tith. Cherm had previously charged in the slaying but prosecutors dismissed the case against him for lack of evidence, retaining the option to refile. The charges were refiled in 2006 when new evidence came forward.

Tith was killed on May 23, 2004, on the East Side in a gang-on-gang shooting. On the night of his death, Tith rode in a car with other gangsters.

The car passed a group of rival gang members who were loitering near a storefront, court documents say. The riders flung hand gestures toward the gangsters on the sidewalk.

The court documents say that was all the motive the Pirus needed. A witness heard Cherm say, "Let's go get 'em," and saw the other two defendants pull guns as they got into Cherm's car and gave chase, the documents say.

About 10 minutes later, the car with Tith in it reached the intersection of East 39th Street and Roosevelt Avenue. A group of young men concealed in bushes emerged and started shooting at it. One bullet hit Tith in the head and killed him. Police recovered 15 shell casings from three guns at the scene.

Miquel Diaz Elrod pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Tith's death last year. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison. The other defendant, Bunnan Orn, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in March 2008. He was sentenced to nine months in custody.

A Pierce County Superior Court judge has extended the time prosecutors have to decide whether to seek the death penalty against the man charged with fatally shooting a Loomis armored-car guard during a robbery last month.

Judge Susan Serko signed an order Wednesday extending the deadline for the decision until July 31 at the request of Calvin Finley (seen here). Wednesday was the original deadline.

Finley, 34, is charged with aggravated first-degree murder in the June 2 death of Kurt Husted. Husted, 38, died after being shot in the head inside the Lakewood Wal-Mart. Detectives believe Finley was the gunman.

Aggravated first-degree murder is the only charge in Washington punishable by death. Prosecutors put Finley and three of his codefendants on notice last month that the death penalty was a consideration.

In a written motion filed Wednesday, one of Finley's attorneys, Mary Kay High, said his defense team needs more time to prepare a mitigation package to submit to prosecutors.

The package of documents will present evidence and arguments why prosecutors shouldn't seek death for Finley if he is convicted as charged.

"We need more time to gather, evaluate and present the information, so the prosecutor may engage in careful deliberation," High wrote.

Mark Lindquist, the county's chief criminal deputy prosecutor, said he did not oppose the extension. Such extensions are commonplace in death-penalty cases.

A brush fire is blocking both directions of State Route 164 at Southeast 380th Place near Enumclaw, the state DOT reports.

Detours are in place for drivers through the area. The DOT offers this detour:

For eastbound drivers: take 380th Place to 160th Place SE to 172nd Avenue SE to SE 392nd Street and back to SR 164.

For westbound drivers: take SE 392nd Street to 172nd Avenue SE to 160th Place SE to SE 380th Place and back to SR 164.

The fire began shortly before 12:30 p.m. Firefighters, troopers and transportation crews are on the scene.

UPDATE: The fire is out and the highway is back open.

King County firefighters have doused a brush fire on a hillside below Green River Community College.

The quick-moving fire was reported before 10 a.m. today, the Valley Regional Fire Authority said. The initial reports estimated the fire was 20 feet in diameter. By the time fire crews arrived, the fire was 50 feet by 200 feet.

Valley Regional firefighters, campus forestry personnel and a brush fire crew from King County Fire District No. 44 dug a line around the fire and stopped its progress, the agency reported.

Investigators were looking into what sparked the fire.

Federal, state and local law enforcement officials say they've busted another drug trafficking organization that was bringing methamphetamine and cocaine into Washington from Mexico.

The results of the 14-month investigation into the vast drug trafficking network were announced this morning at a press conference.

Officials say they have arrested 31 people, including eight from Pierce County, as part of "Operation Arctic Chill," the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency reported today. Federal drug charges have been filed against 20 of the people arrested. Another three will be charged and arraigned this afternoon.

Investigators say those arrested are part of the Oseguera-Chavez Drug Trafficking Organization.

According to an ICE press release, the leader of the organization is Martin Oseguera-Chavez of Roy. He's believed to be responsible for buying meth and cocaine from dealers in California and Mexico. The drugs were then distributed through other members of the drug trafficking organization.

The drugs were transported along the Interstate 5 corridor in the hidden compartments of vehicles, federal authorities report.

"Members of the DTO sought to conceal their actions, speaking with each other in coded language to describe the drugs, calling crystal methamphetamine 'clothes' or 'blind man' and referring to poor quality drugs as 'stretched' or 'bruised,'" the press release states.

Law enforcement officials have executed more than 35 search warrants over the past two weeks. In Washington, the warrants were served in Carnation, Federal Way, Lynnwood, Olympia, Puyallup, Rainier, Roy, Tacoma, Vancouver and Yelm. Another warrant was executed in Oakdale, Calif., where investigators found an idle meth lab and a pound of meth.

Law enforcement officials also seized more than 19 pounds of meth, a quarter pound of cocaine, $60,000 in cash, 22 vehicles and 23 firearms.

"The success of this joint operation is measured by the fact that we successfully dismantled a criminal drug trafficking organization from the top down," Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of ICE's Office of Investigations, said in a press release. "ICE will continue to partner with DEA and others to more effectively investigate these organizations - from smuggler to distributor - and bring to bear the complete complement of law enforcement’s authorities on this threat to our communities."

Here's a list of who has been charged, their age and their residence when they there arrested. ICE officials are not commenting on the immigration status of any of the defendants because of the criminal investigation, spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said.

Arrested Tuesday:
Martin Oseguera Chavez, 50, Roy
Maria Oseguera Lopez, 50, Roy
Maria Del Socorro Oseguera Oseguera, 33, Lynnwood
Baldemar Huerta Galvan, 28, Lynnwood
Alberto Rosales Torres, 39, Tacoma
Erika Oseguera Oseguera, 26, Yelm
Rosalinda Oseguera Lopez, 44, Roy
Doug Alfonso, 48, Olympia
Rigoberto Farias Contreras, 46, Carnation
Daniel Camarena, 30, Tacoma,
Miguel Mora Esquivel, 36, Federal Way
Harold Wesley Moreland, 59, Olympia
Gabriela Ludmila Safr, 28, Tacoma
Crescenciano Yanez Bucio, 30, Yelm
Bernardo Salazar Ponce, 28, Roy

Arrested Monday
Juan Pablo Rincon-Lopez, 30, Tacoma

Arrested June 13
Juan Antonio Trejo-Lopez, 30, Elma
Juan Trejo-Lopez, 37, Elma
Gregorio Gomez-Lopez, 34, Mossyrock
Eduardo Martinez, 27, Elma

In addition to ICE and DEA, the following agencies were part of the investigation: Auburn Police Department, Bonney Lake Police Department, Centralia Police Department, Federal Way Police Department, Gray’s Harbor Task Force, Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, Puyallup Police Department, South Snohomish Drug Task Force, Tacoma Police Department, Tahoma Narcotics Enforcement Team, Washington Department of Corrections and Washington State Patrol.

Photo courtesy of the AP

Last year, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies busted another sizable drug cartel that was bringing meth into the state from Mexico. Find my story about that bust below.

=> Read more!

Emergency crews responding to a McChord Air Force base gate this morning for a "major accident."

A pickup truck crashed into the gate leading into the base's housing area off Gravelly Lake Drive, an Air Force spokeswoman said.

Lakewood, McChord and Madigan emergency personnel were on the scene.

UPDATE: News Tribune photographer Joe Barrentine checked out the scene. He reports the driver was taken to Tacoma General Hospital for treatment of his injuries. There is no word on how serious those injuries are.

Also, there were no signs of braking outside the gate.

The truck apparently smashed into a 5,000-pound concrete barrier and moved it 20 to 25 feet.

UPDATE: The housing gate off Gravelly Lake Drive at McChord Air Base will not reopen this afternoon, according to a base spokesman. Base residents can use the Main Gate at Bridgeport Avenue.
The housing gate will reopen at 6 a.m. Monday as normal. The spokesman said crews have to install a new concrete barrier at the gate.
The gate is normally open in the morning and afternoon to accommodate commuters. It would have been closed over the holiday weekend.
The gate was closed when the pickup truck hit the barrier, the spokesman said, adding that the investigation into the reason for the assault on the gate is still underway.

Pierce County prosecutors have filed charges against a man accused of robbing a Fife bank on Tuesday, then halting the heist and eventually surrendering to police.

Kenneth Dell Haley, 41, was charged Wednesday with first-degree robbery and threatening to bomb or injure property. He's been ordered held in Pierce County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Haley told investigators that he had a severe gambling problem.

"If I get locked up, I can't gamble," he told detectives, according to court documents.

Charging documents provide the following information:

Prosecutors allege Haley went to the Bank of America, 5003 Pacific Highway East, on Tuesday morning and handed the teller a note. The note indicated he had a bomb and wanted cash. Haley toted a bag with him.

The teller put an undisclosed amount of cash in a plastic bag and handed it to Haley.

"Haley told bank employees that there was no bomb and he was not going to leave; instead he would wait for police," court documents state.

Haley didn't leave and made several movements inside the bank. The police were called and the employees evacuated the bank.

After police arrived, Haley was directed outside. He surrendered without incident. Police removed Haley's bag from the bank and disrupted it. They discovered the bag contained Haley's personal belongings.

The stolen cash was also recovered.