Late night middle-of-street sermon (and paraphernalia) net $300 fine

COEUR d’ALENE — Steven R. Raschko’s lunar prophecies induced by marijuana resulted in an overnight stay in the Kootenai County jail, police said.

After being charged with two misdemeanors, including possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia, Raschko was sentenced on one of the misdemeanors and ordered to pay a $300 fine.

Deputies said Raschko, 34, was acting strangely when they met him after midnight, parked in the intersection of Ramsey Road and Hanley Avenue with a box of doughnuts and a bong. His car, a 2005 Audi, was blocking two lanes of traffic.

Raschko, of Pinegrove, Ore., attempted to preach to Shad Campbell, a pedestrian walking alone on a nearby sidewalk, but Campbell told officers Raschko made little sense.

Campbell told deputies that Raschko had driven by him, made a U-turn and stopped to ask Campbell if he was willing to listen to Raschko’s story.

Deputies said Raschko had scribble marks on his arms. He told deputies he was a poet, and talked to deputies about Satanism, crooked cops and magic before he was arrested, according to a sheriff’s office report.

“Raschko appeared to have covered his entire left arm with random things,” according to a deputy’s report.

When he interviewed Raschko, Deputy Austin Norris said the Oregon man “Would yell and then calm down in the same sentence … He was preaching about lunar prophecies and … characters he called ‘heroin angels.’”

Raschko told police he had recently purchased the Audi from a dealer, but had no verification of ownership. Its registered owner was listed as living in Beaverton, Ore.

Prosecutors dismissed Raschko’s marijuana charge Wednesday as part of a plea bargain, and Raschko accepted the $300 fine.