SEATTLE– The Attorney General’s Office Criminal Justice Division today filed charges of theft in the first degree (by deception) against a former state senator who purchased government rated airfares on Alaska Airlines while claiming he was still a state senator.

According to an investigation by the Washington State Patrol, from September 2003 through July 2005, Timothy Erwin purchased 36 government rated airfares, costing Alaska Airlines $14,366.99 in losses. Erwin served in the state Senate from 1990 to 1994.

SEATTLE -- A $430 million settlement with makers of a prescription epilepsy drug will return millions of dollars to Washington's Medicaid program and provide money to offset the company's improper efforts to market the drug Neurontin for other purposes, Attorney General Christine Gregoire announced today.

SEATTLE – Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced the filing of Washington’s first lawsuit under the state’s new computer spyware act.

The suit, filed late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, accuses New York-based Secure Computer, as well as associates in the United States and India, of marketing software that falsely claims computers are infected with spyware and selling consumers a program that claims to remove it. In fact, the software renders computers more susceptible to attacks.

OLYMPIA – A bipartisan group of state representatives will sponsor the House of Representatives’ version of Attorney General Rob McKenna’s request legislation to protect by law a reporter’s confidential sources.

House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, and Deputy Republican Leader Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee, will join Reps. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, and Skip Priest, R-Federal Way, in championing the measure through the House of Representatives.

SEATTLE – Attorney General Rob McKenna today warned consumers about a new version of a counterfeit check scam in which victims are told they received a restitution from a lawsuit settlement.

The Attorney General’s Office was contacted by a California resident whose elderly father last month received a letter addressed to his home in San Bruno, CA, along with a check for $2,915 that bounced shortly after it was deposited.

SEATTLE – Attorney General Rob McKenna will visit Central Washington on Wednesday, Jan. 11, for two “Operation: Allied Against Meth” presentations in Chelan and a tour of Wellness Place in Wenatchee.

McKenna will start his day with visits to Chelan High School and Chelan Middle School with the anti-meth group, Lead-On America. The visits are part of a series of presentations by McKenna and Lead-On America to urge young people to stay away from methamphetamine.

WHAT: “Operation: Allied Against Meth” presentations with Lead-On America

TACOMA – Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced that Mary Lobdell has been promoted to Consumer Protection Division Section Chief for Southwest Washington effective Dec. 4.

OLYMPIA – After soliciting recommendations from experts in Attorney General’s Sexually Violent Predator Unit who work with prosecuting attorneys across the state, Attorney General Rob McKenna has asked a bipartisan group of legislators to sponsor seven bills that would improve the state’s ability to protect children and communities from sex offenders.

OLYMPIA – Attorney General Rob McKenna has promoted Assistant Attorney General Lana Weinmann to Criminal Litigation Unit Section Chief and Chief Criminal Prosecutor of the Attorney General’s Office.

As the Attorney General’s Chief Criminal Prosecutor, Weinmann and her staff are responsible for assisting the state’s 39 county prosecutors in criminal matters, including cases involving conflict-of-interest, capital punishment, DNA and complex forensics, ecology cases and tax fraud matters.

SEATAC – Attorney General Rob McKenna convened the first of two statewide Latino Consumer Education Conferences today in SeaTac, bringing together expert consumer advocates and a diverse group of participants with a shared goal of helping protect Washington’s Latino consumers from fraud.

The group identified a number of pressing issues facing Latino consumers in Washington and offered suggestions for improved outreach and fraud prevention.