COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — The Kootenai County Sheriff's Department on Thursday gave reward checks of $4,315 each to a manager and waitress at a Denny's restaurant in Coeur d'Alene whose quick actions led to the rescue of Shasta Groene from a registered sex offender.
Manager Linda Olson and waitress Amber Deahn recognized the 8-year-old girl when she came into the restaurant early July 2 in the company of Joseph Edward Duncan III.
While Olson called 911 and deployed restaurant staff to quietly block exits, Deahn talked to Duncan and Shasta and talked the girl into ordering a milk shake. Then she stalled on making the shake until police arrived and arrested Duncan, ending 47 days of captivity for Shasta.
Customers in the restaurant also called 911, but Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson said the call from Olson was the first. The reward money was donated by local businesses and residents.
The FBI is still trying to determine who will receive a $100,000 federal reward for Shasta's return.
Meanwhile, four workers at Kootenai Medical Center were disciplined for improperly looking at the medical records of Shasta Groene.
An audit of Shasta's computerized medical records showed that four workers had accessed them without permission, said Tom Legel, KMC's vice president for finances and information systems.
Shasta was taken to the hospital July 2, after she was saved from Duncan, who allegedly killed four members of her family and kidnapped Shasta and her 9-year-old brother, Dylan. Dylan's body was recovered in Montana after Shasta's rescue.
Shasta was released from the hospital July 8.
Legel discovered the violations during a routine audit of medical records. To ensure patient privacy, the hospital audits the records of high-profile patients. Four names in the Groene file didn't make sense, he said: "We found no reason for them to be there."
Legel said concern for the patient motivated the records violations, so the workers were not fired. He wouldn't elaborate on what the employees were concerned about.
"If they had spread the information, they would have been terminated," he said. "None were terminated. They were dealt with appropriately."
He wouldn't say what kind of disciplinary action was taken.
The hospital has 1,600 workers and 1,000 can access patient records, Legel said.