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The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. – Yellowstone County officials say a transient whose body was found in a creek near Billings drowned after a fall that caused a severe neck injury.

Coroner Chad Fehr says 39-year-old Kenneth G. Flam was likely sleeping on a narrow ledge high above Alkali Creek when he fell down a steep embankment and into the water. Fehr tells The Billings Gazette the neck injury made it impossible for the man to swim.

A hiker spotted Flam’s body floating face down in the water just before noon Tuesday.

Fehr says Flam’s last known address was Federal Way, Wash., but that he was a transient and had registered addresses in several states.

Fehr says Flam’s death is being considered accidental.

CORRECTED VERSION

SPOKANE — A Federal Way pilot who overshot the Spokane airport by some 50 miles and later lined up on the wrong runway during approach has been convicted in federal court of flying while intoxicated.

A jury convicted 48-year-old Paul R. Roessler under the federal statute of operating a common carrier under the influence of alcohol last week, the Spokesman Review reported Tuesday.

Roessler was flying a twin-engine Piper PA-34 Seneca for Seattle-based Airpac Airlines last April when air traffic controllers could not reach him via radio as he went past his arrival time. Controllers enlisted nearby pilots to radio him, but he was not responding.

Eventually, Roessler contacted the Seattle Air Route Traffic Control Center at 8:09 p.m. and said he had accidentally shut off his communication system.

Air controllers “informed the Defendant that he has overflown Spokane by approximately 50 miles and asked if he was going to return to Spokane,” court records say. Roessler said he would. “My mistake, my apologies,” he said.

As Roessler approached Spokane International Airport, he was told by controllers that he was cleared to land on Runway 25. But “during the approach the Defendant lined up to land on the wrong runway,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Lister wrote in court records.

Air traffic controllers asked him which runway he intended to use and he shifted course and landed on the correct runway.

Once he landed, emergency and law enforcement personnel checked up on Roessler as he unloaded his aircraft and could smell alcohol in his breath.

Spokane Airport Police officers noted that Roessler’s voice seemed “mushy,” which made her suspect he’d been drinking. Once inside, Roessler walked directly toward a coffee machine, but an officer refused to allow the pilot to drink coffee because he feared Roessler was trying to mask his breath, court records state.

Officials tested Roessler’s blood-alcohol level. It registered at .108 percent. The legal limit is .04 percent.

Later, during an interview, Roessler admitted he’d been drinking whiskey mixers that morning. “The Defendant indicated he thought he was alright because there was an eight hour break from ‘bottle to throttle,” Lister wrote.

Roessler will be sentenced in July. He faces up to 15 years in prison, although he’s likely to get far less time. His commercial pilot’s license has been revoked.

A Pierce County man accused of killing his ex-wife during a counseling session at a Federal Way church three years ago has pleaded guity to first-degree murder.

According to police and prosecutors, Parsons and his wife Carol Parsons, 38, had been married for 12 years before divorcing in 2009. Charles Parsons had hopes of reconciliation, but his ex-wife had moved on and was dating another man, charging documents allege.

When the counseling session began at Calvary Lutheran Church in Federal Way on March 17, 2010, Parsons allegedly said they were going to “get down to the nitty-gritty today” and then asked his ex-wife whether she planned to continue dating her boyfriend, court documents allege.

When she said yes and refused to end the relationship, Charles Parsons walked across the room and retrieved a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun from the pocket of his coat, court documents allege. He fired the weapon six times, according to court documents, striking Carol Parsons five times.

Parsons, of Lakewood, then left the church, called 911 and told emergency dispatchers what he’d done, police said. He placed the gun on the hood of his truck, then lay down on the ground until police arrived, according to police.

The couple had three children.

Parsons, 44, pleaded guilty on Friday. He will face a sentence range of 22 to 28 ½ years in prison when he is sentenced. A sentencing date has not been scheduled, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

An Auburn man who killed his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend two years ago was sentenced today to 31 1/2 years in prison.

Michael Ray Fiorini, 28, pleaded guilty in February to first-degree murder, with a firearm enhancement, for breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s Federal Way apartment and shooting 27-year-old Christopher D. Johnson in the chest.

According to police, Fiorini allegedly smashed the sliding glass door to the woman’s apartment early in the morning of Feb. 24, 2011, and pointed a gun at her while she was on the couch. Johnson came out of a bedroom and was shot by Fiorini, police said.

Police arrested Fiorini a short distance from the apartment.

UPDATE: 6 a.m. | The resin was cleaned up by early this morning and while all lanes were open, traffic was still moving slowly through the area. About 20,000 gallons of resin were spilled on the highway, according to the Associated Press.

Original story:

A semi truck that crashed into a disabled minivan, seriously injuring its driver, spilled resin glue across several lanes of Interstate 5 in Federal Way Wednesday night.

Just before 7 p.m., the minivan, driven by a Federal Way woman in her mid-50s, became disabled in a northbound lane of I-5, just north of State Route 18, according to Washington State Patrol Sgt. Dan Atchison. About three minutes later, a semi holding two trailers of resin glue rammed into the minivan.

Atchison said the minivan driver was taken to Harborview Medical Center.

One of two large pouches of the resin burst open, resulting in the closure of four of the six northbound lanes at that stetch of freeway.

Atchison said around 9 p.m. that the cleanup could take hours, and the State Department of Transportation estimated Wednesday night that the spill would keep three lanes closed until at least 3 a.m.

The former owner of a Federal Way nightclub that was a front for prostitution and money laundering was sentenced today to six years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Chang Young Kim, 59, of Milton, pleaded guilty in November  to conspiracy to transport individuals for prostitution, conspiracy to engage in money laundering, bribery of a public official and tax evasion.

Kim, former owner of The Blue Moon in Federal Way, was indicted in January 2012. Investigators say the club recruited women from overseas to work as “bar girls” who would entertain male clients and set up further meetings for paid sex. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says the women had to use the money to repay their travel and living expenses.

Prosecutors say Kim also paid $15,000 in bribes to an undercover officer in an attempt to get advance word of any inspections as well as favorable treatment from immigration authorities.

Faatoaga Ufuti of Lakewood (Crime Stoppers photo)

The remains a boy found in Federal Way last week have been identified as Faatoaga Ufuti by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Ufuti was 43 when he was reported missing March 12 of last year, according to Crime Stoppers Tacoma/Pierce County. The father of three was last seen at his house in Lakewood before his wife fell asleep. When she woke up, he was gone.

Federal Way Police found the man’s remains in a wooded area Feb. 22 near the 36000 block of 20^th Avenue Southwest after a boy found a femur bone and gave it to his parents.

Police ask anyone with more information on Ufuti’s disappearance to call Detective Jeff VanderVeer at 253-835-6791 or e-mail him at jeffv@cityoffederalway.com.

A boy’s discovery of a human femur in Federal Way led police to skeletal remains in a wooded area in 36000 block of 20^th Avenue Southwest this morning.

The boy was playing in a wooded area last night when he found the bone and brought it to his parents, who called police and gave it to them. This morning, Federal Way Police Department detectives discovered the rest of the remains about 100 feet from where the initial bone, believe to be a femur, was found.

Detectives believe the remains may belong to an adult male and do not know if foul play was involved in the person’s death. But because of the condition of the remains, police say the King County Medical Examiner’s Office will have to conduct lab work to try to identify the body.

King County prosecutors are recommending a 31 1/2-year sentence for an Auburn man who recently pleaded guilty to killing his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend two years ago.

Michael Ray Fiorini, 28, pleaded guilty last week to first-degree murder, with a firearm enhancement, for breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s Federal Way apartment and shooting 27-year-old Christopher D. Johnson in the chest.

According to police, Fiorini allegedly smashed the sliding glass door to the woman’s apartment early in the morning of Feb. 24, 2011, and pointed a gun at her while she was on the couch. Johnson came out of a bedroom and was shot by Fiorini, police said.

Police arrested Fiorini a short distance from the apartment.

Fiorini is scheduled to be sentenced on April 11 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. The sentence range is 25 to 31 ½ years in prison, according to the King County Prosecutor’s Office.

Two South King County schools are on lockdown after a man called 911 to report he had been stabbed.

Sheriff’s spokesman Charlie Akers said that deputies were called just after 11:30 a.m. to Camelot Park, 294 45th Place South, for a report of a man who had suffered knife wounds. The 22-year-old victim apparently dialed 911, saying he had been stabbed.

After deputies arrived he changed his story and claimed that he had fallen on a knife, Akers said.

The case is under investigation.

Camelot Elementary School and Thomas Jefferson High School are both on lockdown, Akers said.