Suspects in Hood robbery face long prison terms

Two of the three Spokane suspects who were arrested and charged with breaking into the Larry Hood residence along Highway 195 south of Pullman and robbing him last Nov. 23 were sentenced Friday in superior court.

Heather Halseth, 35, was sentenced to 108 months in prison, and Alvord Verley, 32, was sentenced to 49 months.

Their sentences followed the conviction of Richard Hoffman, 31, who was sentenced to 69 months in prison after pleading guilty June 29 to charges of burglary and attempted burglary.

Superior Court Judge Gary Libey told Halseth he found the Hood robbery to be an “extremely violent and personal attack.” He said the level of crimes involved in the Hood case rated just below homicide.

Hood appeared in court when Hoffman was sentenced in June, and he intended to make a statement at the Friday hearings, but he later reported he could not appear.

Judge Libey noted Hood made a pointed victim’s impact statement during the Hoffman sentencing in June.

Investigation of the case began when Hood came into the lobby of the Pullman Police Department at 7:53 p.m. Nov 23 and reported he had been robbed. Hood said he had to drive to the Pullman station because his telephone lines had been cut by the suspects who entered his house. He said he had been tied up and had to free himself after the suspects departed.

Hood said Halseth arrived at his residence first that night and said she wanted to have a drink. He told deputies he had known her for about three years and had last seen her at the Northern Quest Casino in Spokane about 10 days before she appeared at his house.

He told deputies he and Halseth shared a drink, and she requested help with the purchase of a truck which he declined. She left the residence, but a few minutes later the front door to the house was kicked in and the intruders tied up Hood. The report said they pulled the wires from his telephone and first attempted to tie him with the telephone cord and later used some type of tape.

Hood said they threatened him with some type of a baton and they also threatened to cut off his fingers if he didn’t assist them. The two suspects went through the house, took cash and the titles to Hoods vehicles.

Halseth told deputies she had been assigned to put a sleeping pill in Hood’s drink while she was in the residence, but failed to do so. She waited outside of the residence while Hoffman and Verley went inside.

The suspects took Hood’s 2014 Silverado pickup truck with them when they left the residence.

The Silverado was later found damaged that night in the north parking lot at Zip’s on the north end of Main in Colfax. Colfax police determined it had been used to ram the front of a storage building on Third Street in Colfax later that night.

Three days later Spokane Police contacted the county and reported they had arrested Halseth and Verley. Items taken from Hood’s house, including the vehicle titles, were found in a pillow case.

When he spoke in court last June, Hood, 76, told how he had to struggle to free himself after the trio had left his residence. He asked that Hoffman be assigned the maximum sentence. He added the three suspects all seemed to him to be young people who should serve their time and then straighten out their lives.

Halseth was sentenced to 108 months in prison because she had a record of eight prior felony convictions dating back to 2008. Five of those convictions involved drug charges. Her last two convictions, in Stevens County, were for possession of methamphetamine and second-degree theft. Those convictions from 2015 cases were done Dec. 28 of last year before she was brought to jail here. She was booked into jail here after being transported from the state women’s corrections center.

Hoffman had a record of 24 prior convictions, listed from A to W, on an appendix to his sentencing record. His record went back to 1995. He was convicted on four charges in Spokane County April 21 and then brought to jail here May 3. Hoffman had an offender score of nine plus. He was sentenced here after pleading guilty to burglary at the Hood residence and attempted burglary in Colfax.

Verley, who pleaded guilty Friday to robbery, burglary and attempted burglary, had an offender score of three and faced a sentencing range from 46 to 61 months. He had been sentenced in Stevens County on two convictions last August.

Verley and Hoffman were ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution to Mike Damery, owner of the storage building which they attempted to enter while heading back to Spokane last Nov. 23.

All three suspects were ordered to pay $6,141 restitution, jointly and severally, to Hood.