IN BRIEF

'NO COMMON THREADS'

Inquiry ordered in suicides at Utah's Hill Air Force Base

The top officer at Utah's Hill Air Force Base has ordered an investigation into a rash of suicides there, including a look at whether prescription drug abuse may be a contributing factor.

The base has one of the highest suicide rates in the country, with four confirmed cases this year involving three civilian employees and one airman. There were eight suicides there last year and at least five in 2008.

Gen. Andrew Busch, commander of the Ogden Air Logistics Center, said at a news conference Friday they have found "no common threads or single contributing factors" in the deaths.

REMOTE LOGGING ROAD

Authorities look for father, daughter after car found

Washington state authorities say they're searching for a 21-year-old man and his toddler daughter after finding their abandoned car stuck on a remote logging road.

Clallam County Undersheriff Ron Peregrin said Jared Egnew took 1-year-old Madison Egnew for a drive Friday night to calm her. Egnew's wife reported them missing when they didn't return to the campground where they live.

Deputies searched all night for the car, and found it Saturday about 11 a.m.

WOMAN ALSO CHARGED

Father accused of trying to sell baby beaten by jail inmates

Jail officials in California say a father accused of trying to sell his baby for $25 outside a Walmart is recovering after other inmates beat him.

Patrick Fousek, 38, and 20-year-old Samantha Tomasini, of Salinas, pleaded not guilty to child endangerment and drug charges Friday.

Fousek appeared in court with a bruised eye and stitches. Sheriff's Cmdr. Mike Richards said the man was attacked Thursday at the Monterey County Jail.

WOMAN GOT IT FROM GOODWILL

Pictures in donated cell phone lead to arrest in child rape case

Explicit pictures and video in a donated cell phone led police to arrest a 32-year-old Tacoma, Wash., man in a child rape case.

The Tacoma News Tribune reported that prosecutors charged Robert Michael Comte this past week with one count of first-degree child rape and one count of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor after a woman who received a cell phone from a Goodwill found explicit video and pictures of a girl who appears to be between 3 and 5 years old.

Comte plead not guilty Friday and is being held in jail on a $500,000 bail.

Prosecutors allege the man sexually assaulting the child in the video is Comte. Police used information in the phone to track down people who know Comte, including a woman who said the phone belonged to him.