Former Libby businessman and mayoral candidate incarcerated in Washington

By ERIKA KIRSCH Western News Editor

LIBBY — A former Libby businessman and mayoral candidate is fighting extradition to Montana after being arrested in Spokane, Wash. May 16, according to Jim Sweet, Lincoln County Sheriff's Lt. Detective.

William A. Dancer, 51, was arrested and booked into the Spokane Sheriff's Department at 1:37 a.m. on Wednesday, May 16 with a $100,000 bond for his release.

Dancer was arrested on a fugitive charge, according to Spokane Sheriff Department dispatch staff. Dancer is wanted in Montana on a fugitive charge for allegedly funneling over $400,000 from his former employer into businesses and personal property, according to previous reports.

According to court documents, Dancer is accused of embezzling $425,000 from his former employer, Sagle, Idaho-based Independence Home Center. Dancer was the area's local sales manager for the company between Dec. 15, 2005 to approximately October 2006, according to court documents. The Independence Home Center filed a complaint for "financial indiscretions," Sweet said. An investigative report began on Oct. 11, 2006, Sweet said. A physical confrontation between Dancer and Dancer's former employer occurred before Dancer's disappearance from the area shortly after the initial investigative report, Sweet said.

"Within a day or two [of the physical confrontation] he disappeared," Sweet said of Dancer.

Sweet was recently given a tip that Dancer was living in Spokane, he said. Sweet traveled to Spokane looking for Dancer with the assistance of the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department, out of Kootenai County in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and the Spokane Police Department, Sweet said. Dancer was not arrested until Sweet had already returned to Libby, he said.

There are seven counts against Dancer, Sweet said. Those counts include money laundering and six counts of theft by embezzlement, Sweet said.

Bond has not yet been posted for Dancer and he is fighting extradition to Montana, Sweet said. In order to have Dancer extradited to Montana, there must be an application for a governor's warrant, according to Lincoln County Deputy County Attorney Grant Gibson. Gibson was unable to comment on the steps that have already been taken to retrieve Dancer, Gibson said.

"The complaints are only an accusation," Gibson said. "He's innocent until proven guilty."