ByBENMITCHELL › lccn › sn83009939 › ... · as his client had “no...

www.hoodrivernews.com Hood River News, Wednesday, February 18, 2015 A5

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Actual High / Low

Updated Monday, Feb. 16at 9:00 a.m. PST

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Humidity 99%

Wind Speed SW 1 G 3 MPH

Barometer NA

Dewpoint 30°F (-1°C)

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Last Update on 16 Feb 8:00 am PST

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WASH.

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Portland40° | 62° Pendleton

29° | 52°

Ontario32° | 56°

Bend29° | 56°

Klamath Falls30° | 62°

Medford39° | 66°

North Bend43° | 65°

Eugene38° | 62°

Newport45° | 63° Salem

37° | 61°

Astoria42° | 62°

Today Feb 18 Partly Cloudy 58° / 43°

Thurs. Feb 19 Partly Cloudy 58° / 41°

Fri. Feb 20 Partly Cloudy 56° / 38°

Sat. Feb 21 Sunny 57° / 38°

Sun. Feb 22 Sunny 55° / 36°

Mon. Feb 23 Sunny 56° / 36°

Tues. Feb 24 Sunny 57° / 39°

Feb 9 - 48/43Feb 10 - 57/43Feb 11 - 54/36Feb 12 - 60/37Feb 13 - 56/34Feb 14 - 61/42Feb 15 - 59/33

Daytime / OvernightHigh / Low (°F)

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Today’s ForecastMostly sunny, with a high near 57. Calm wind becoming west 5to 7 mph in the morning.

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Caregiver accused of stealing patient’s money over a period of yearsBy BEN MITCHELL

News staff writerA Hood River caregiver is

facing multiple felony andmisdemeanor charges afterallegedly stealing well over$10,000 from a female patientof hers over a period of threeyears.Kati Rai Laney, 44, was in-

dicted in Hood River CountyCircuit Court last week on 13charges, nine of which arefelonies, including fourcounts of theft in the first de-gree, four counts of criminalmistreatment in the first de-gree, and one count of aggra-vated theft in the first de-gree. She is also facing fourcounts of misapplication ofentrusted property, a misde-meanor.According to testimony

given by Deputy District At-torney Carrie Rasmussen,

Laney was originally hiredas an in-home caregiver forthe victim more than 10years ago, but was fired by“the victim, with the assis-tance of DHS (Department ofHuman Services) in Januaryof last year.”Rasmussen did not offer

exact details in court as tohow the alleged thefts oc-curred, but made mention ofissues with credit cards.“The victimized (is) a very

vulnerable person; the vic-tim is a quadriplegic. Shecan’t even move anythingnow but her mouth, but sheis mentally aware and she isvery certain she did not au-thorize Kati Laney to takeout these multiple creditcards,” she said. “We’re stillconducting ongoing investi-gations with numerous bankaccounts. We’re still gettingrecords; this investigationhas been going on for a year.”Rasmussen added that al-

though charges only detailalleged thefts that occurredfrom 2011 to 2014, “the con-duct so far, in relationship tothe victim, stretches back atleast 10 years, but because of

in April 2014 — 10 months be-fore his actual arrest thisweek. The indictment con-tains little informationabout the crime, other thanthe name of the victim andthe date of the incident.English said deputies Kyle

Cozad and Jesse Flem took a

commercial flight down tothe San Francisco Airportand picked up Nichols onThursday, who was previous-ly housed at the San MateoCounty Jail. English de-clined to provide details onhow law enforcement offi-cers in California were ableto find Nichols.Hood River County Deputy

District Attorney CarrieRasmussen’s office was con-tacted for additional infor-mation, but Rasmussen was

not able to be reached direct-ly.Nichols was arraigned at

the Hood River County Cour-thouse late Friday morning,but no additional informa-tion was provided.He is currently on a no-

bail hold and faces a mini-mum sentence of 25 years inprison, with amaximum sen-tence of life. Nichols is nextscheduled to appear March 3at 11 a.m.

CHARGEContinued from Page A1

In 2014 the University ofWashington and PortlandState University did an ad-ministrative assessment ofthe Gorge Commission at thebehest of governors and theWashington Office of Finan-cial Management. The studysaid that the Gorge Commis-sion had only 25 percent ofthe resources needed to doits job. Oregon Gov. JohnKitzhaber (who resigns effec-tive Feb. 18) responded by in-creasing the commission’sbudget by 89 percent, butWashington Gov. Jay Insleecommitted to only a 7 per-cent increase in his proposedbudget.Kitzhaber’s budget

bumped Oregon’s $891,000share of the bi-state agency’sbudget up to over $1.6 mil-lion. Nichols noted it was “astep in the right direction,”but was “still only half ofwhat we need.” “One of thebiggest challenges and hasbeen, building relationshipsand trying to get the twostates to work together andmake the sufficient invest-ment in the commission andits role in the Scenic Area,and it is certainly a chal-lenge,” Nichols said MondayNichols said the Gorge

Commission needs $2 mil-lion a year from each statefor the commission to do itswork, and help the regionprepare for long-term protec-tion of the Gorge resourcesand enhancement of a vi-brant and sustainable econo-my. “I think it’s a reasonableinvestment,” he said. By law,the funding from each statemust be equal, even if thatmeans accepting less than isoffered from the State of Ore-gon.“Unfortunately the gover-

nor (Inslee) was not in a po-sition to respond to those re-ports, and that will b contin-ue to be a challenge of thecommission to move for-ward,” Nichols said.In January Sen. JohnHuff-

man of The Dalles and aWashington counterpart an-nounced that they wouldjointly propose legislation inSalem and Olympia to set upa bi-state task force to adviceon future funding of theGorge Commission.Asked about the timing of

his resignation given: thefunding situation and thepending task force legisla-tion, Nichols said, “it’s justcoincidental. I’ve been work-ing with the RuckelshausCenter and for the last threeyears, and the RuckelshausCenter has been working onthe assistant director posi-tion for a couple of years andI initially expressed interestin it several months ago be-fore we knew the outcome ofthe budget discussions.“I sincerely hope the states

are able to come together interms for their agreement tothe compact and help thatcompact work for an agencythat is absolutely vital.”Nichols described his

work with the Commissionand its staff as a unique priv-ilege, saying “I am veryproud of what we’ve accom-plished over the last threeyears and I am confident inour staff and leadership’sability to work collaborative-ly with Gorge communities,agency partners, ColumbiaRiver Treaty tribes, thestates, local industry and thepublic.”“The Northwest faces

many complex and growingchallenges. The ColumbiaRiver Gorge is more thanany one person’s or organiza-tion’s vision – it takes all ofus working together to pro-tect the Gorge and prepareour communities for the fu-

ture” said Nichols, whoholds a degree in Economicsand a Master’s in Urban andRegional Planning. Nicholsplans to spend some timewith his family and wrap-ping up work on a law degreein environmental and natur-al resources during the tran-sition. He will remain avail-able as needed while theCommission selects a re-placement.Chamberain said Nichols

has helped the Commissionwork better together inter-nally and reached out to ex-ternal partners. He and afive-member staff have stabi-lized basic funding for theagency, solved some long-standing disputes, strength-ened regional relations, ad-dressed recreation and trans-portation concerns, and en-tered a first-ever agreementwith Klickitat County.The Commission remains

focused on working well to-gether and with the Gorgecommunity. In recent years,the Commission has in-creased capacity for collabo-rative regional planning andbi-state partnership. TheCommission is on a path tofill its role as a visionary re-gional planning agency. Thatrole became clear in theCommission’s recent workwith Northwest universities,through an assessment thatestablished for the first timewhat it will take to protectand enhance a truly NationalScenic Area and support a vi-brant, sustainable regionaleconomy.Before coming to the

Gorge Commission Nicholshas served for six years asthe Community Services Di-vision manager for the De-partment of Land Conserva-tion and Development, over-seeing a staff of 14 in sevenregional offices and helpinglocal governments imple-ment Oregon’s statewideplanning program.

GORGEContinued from Page A1

Kati Rai Laney

the statute of limitations,there are some things thatwe are never going to be ableto reach back and get.”Although they weren’t in-

cluded in the list of charges,Rasmussen noted that shewas looking into additionalcharges regarding changesto the victim’s life insurancepolicies allegedly made byLaney.“One of the things that is

quite alarming to me that Ithink speaks to a potentialdanger to the victim is threevery large life insurancepolicies that in recent years— and this could be an iden-tity theft case we’re lookingat — were all converted tomake Kati Laney the benefi-ciary,” she explained. Ras-mussen noted that “it alwayssends up red flags when wesee one insurance policyafter another on someone’slife when their heath is de-clining, cutting out theirfamilies, to the benefit of acaregiver.”Rasmussen stated that she

believed these were policiesthat the victim “never couldhave signed because shecan’t move her hand.” Sheadded that the Veterans Af-

fairs Office had been madeaware of the case.It was mentioned that

Laney is currently employedat a caregiving facility, butthe name of the facility wasnot given in court. Accordingto a Facebook page for Laney,she has been employed as a“CNA” or “certified nurse’sassistant” at ProvidenceBrookside Manor in HoodRiver 2006.Susan Frost, public affairs

manager for ProvidenceHood River Memorial Hospi-tal, confirmed that Laneyhad been an employee ofBrookside Manor and wasstill employed as of Tuesdaymorning. She would notcomment on whether therewould be any sort of discipli-nary action levied againstLaney and would not com-ment further on the allegedincident due to the “ongoinginvestigation.”Bail for Laney was origi-

nally set at $15,000, thenraised to $30,000 by JudgeJohn A. Olson per Ras-mussen’s request. Bail wasdropped to $4,000 during asubsequent court appear-ance after a request wasmade by Laney’s attorney,

Conor Sullivan. He arguedthat bail should be reducedas his client had “no crimi-nal history, no traffic history,and I don’t believe even anyparking tickets.” He saidLaney was a “life-long resi-dent of Hood River” with ahusband and three childrenas well as being a “4-Hleader” and involved withher daughter’s softball team.Sullivan also noted thatLaney had been a CNA sincethe age of 18.Laney bailed out of the

Northern Oregon RegionalCorrectional Facility on Fri-day, with conditions of herrelease including no contactwith the elderly or disabledin a caregiving capacity andno possession of any debit orcredit cards that are not inher name.Rasmussen’s office was

contacted for more informa-tion on the case, but Ras-mussen did not respond bypress time.The next court appearance

for Laney is set for March30th. The most serious of thecharges levied against Laneycould result in up to a 10-yearprison sentence.

Small Business Showcase March 13Small Business Showcase

returns March 13 to a new lo-cation – Butler Bank Build-ing, 301 Oak St.Businesses interested in

renting a booth at the event($100 fee) may register at theHood River Chamber ofCommerce website, hoodriv-er.org.At Small Business Show-

case, attendees of the freeevent meet business ownersand employees and learnabout goods and servicesavailable in the Gorge.Steffen Lunding and Clau-

dia Lane of Red Tail Hold-ings had renovated the build-ing and operated it as 301Gallery in 2012-13.

The building was last usedfor the Holiday Pop-Up mar-ket in November-December2014.The showcase will be the

first public event at ButlerBank Building sinceStephanie Laur and UnionEvent Co. assumed manage-ment in January. The compa-ny (unioneventco.com) pro-vides event planning at But-ler Bank as well as custom lo-cations.Butler Bank Building, in

the 1927 building that for-merly served as city halluntil 2010, is available forrent for parties, receptions,dinners, and other events.

THE BUTLER BANK buildingwill host the Small BusinessShowcase, which returns Friday,March 13.