Inmate assault nets lockdown

Yan Yefremov, 25, the Spokane area man who faces sentencing after pleading guilty to six different charges involving theft of cars at Pullman, has been ordered on lockdown status at the Whitman County jail. The jail order was issued after a hearing last week on a charge that he had assaulted another inmate at the jail last Monday. A copy of a notice filed with the case noted this was the second time Yefremov had assaulted another inmate in the jail.

The jail noted the March 7 violation was compounded because Yefremov had conspired with another inmate to cover up the assault.

Yefremov had been slated for sentencing Monday, but the date was moved back to April 1. His lockdown order suspends any prior privileges, removes good time credits and bans him from having visitors.

Inmate John Hinton was penalized for five days for conspiring with Yefremov, according to another violation report filed with the court.

Sheriff Brett Myers said Yefremove is expected to be moved back to the state corrections system after sentencing here on the Whitman County convictions. He said the lockdown here will continue until the inmate is moved back to state custody.

Yefremov entered guilty pleas to six charges in three different cases March 4 in superior court. He was brought here from the state corrections center at Shelton, and will face sentencing with an offender score of nine, the high end of the scale.

Among charges admitted March 4 were vehicle thefts which took place while charges were pending on the Pullman cases which led to Yefremov’s initial arrest in 2009.

Friday he admitted charges of attempted vehicle theft and harassment for the June 2009 case, theft of tools from a July 2009 case and theft of a car and taking two cars in a case from February of last year.

Yefremov was first arrested on Highway 195 near Babbitt Road June 13, 2009, after WSU campus police responded to a report of an attempted theft of a 1994 Honda Civic. The owner of the car, who came onto the parking lot scene from Orton Hall, discovered two men who were attempting to take the Civic. Yefremov, who was in the Civic, climbed out and threatened to kill the owner of the car before he fled. He and Mikhail Yermola departed the scene in a green Mazda which was later stopped on Highway 195.

Police July 28, 2009, responded to a report of theft of tools from a utility trailer on Barclay Ridge. The suspects, who dropped some of the tools when the owner arrived, were later arrested, again along Highway 195. This led to the addition of a second degree theft charge.

The other suspect in the 2009 cases, Yermola, then 24, entered a guilty pleas to charges in the two cases and was sentenced to 30 days in jail in December of 2009.

Plea negotiations continued in Yefremov’s cases until a bench warrant was issued for his arrest April 15 last year. At that time he had been released on a $10,000 bond which was ordered forfeited. The court later exonerated the bond forfeiture when it learned Yefremov had been jailed in Spokane. He was later convicted in Spokane and sent to Shelton.

Yefremov was brought here last October from Shelton. In addition to entering guilty pleas to charges in the two 2009 cases he also admitted new charges involving car thefts in Pullman Feb. 16, 2010, when he was out on bond awaiting trial on the 2009 cases.

Yefremov was charged with stealing a 1991 Honda Prelude and taking a 1991 Honda Accord and a 1990 Acura without permission on Feb. 16, 2010.