Lewis County Sirens.com

Jason A. Brown waits to be escorted back to the jail after hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 35-year-old man accused of taking a wallet from an elderly man’s pocket in broad daylight in the parking lot of a Morton grocery store pleaded guilty today to amended charges and was sentenced to one year and one day in prison.

Jason A. Brown, 35, was arrested in early September for the events of Aug. 29 at the Country Market. He was initially charged with second-degree robbery, with police and prosecutors alleging various slightly different versions than a deputy prosecutor described to the judge today.

The 83-year-old victim who lives in Morton was not present in the courtroom in Lewis County Superior Court this morning.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead told the judge he dropped the robbery charge and replaced it with a charge of first-degree theft. He said he and defense attorney Kevin Nelson agreed however to recommend the defendant be given a sentence above the standard sentencing range.

Halstead said for robbery, there has to be some kind of violence or threat of violence. He told the judge he watched the surveillance video and saw something slightly different.

The victim walks out of the store and the suspect asks him for a couple of dollars, and the victim says no, according to Halstead.

The images show the victim then gets to his car, the suspect comes up behind him and takes the wallet from his pocket, and then leaves, he said.

When it happened, Morton Police Department Chief Roger Morningstar posted photos of the suspect and the suspect’s car on Facebook, and later reached out to David Rose, host of the television show Washington’s Most Wanted.

On Sept. 8, someone recognized the suspect at the Mossy Mini Shell station, called 911 and followed the suspect to an RV park in Silver Creek, where police subsequently found Brown inside a motorhome and took him into custody.

Brown also pleaded guilty this morning to residential burglary, for an Aug. 21 incident on Southeast First Street when police found him walking out the front door of a house with various items and found the back door kicked in.

Defense attorney Nelson told the judge he felt the resolution was a fair outcome, and that he and his client had talked about pleading guilty from the very beginning.

“Mr. Brown accepts full responsibility for both these acts,” Nelson said.

Judge Joely O’Rourke accepted Brown’s pleas of guilty and sentenced him to one year and a day in both cases, with the time to be served concurrently.
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For background, read “Man who allegedly mugged Morton senior located at Silver Creek campground” from Monday September 11, 2017, here

James G. Blunt is shown his seat in Lewis County Superior Court

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  A 51-year-old driver with a half-finished Mike’s Hard Lemonade in his vehicle who allegedly told the deputy who stopped him for speeding he’d had about four hits of marijuana roughly five minutes earlier, was arrested for driving under the influence early yesterday east of Chehalis.

But James G. Blunt, who said he was headed home to Mossyrock, was arrested for felony DUI, not the more common offense that is a gross misdemeanor.

Back in 2001, Blunt had fatally struck a bicyclist near Mossyrock, while he was intoxicated and was convicted in Lewis County Superior Court of vehicular homicide while under the influence. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

He was booked into the Lewis County Jail early yesterday and then brought before a judge that afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Blye asked the judge to hold Blunt on $25,000 bail, noting the defendant had three DUI convictions even before the deadly collision in 2001. Temporary defense attorney Rachael Tiller requested it be set with a $5,000 unsecured bond, relating that her client had lived in Mossyrock nearly his whole life.

Judge James Lawler set bail at $50,000, citing community safety concerns.

Lewis County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said the possible penalty for felony DUI is 10 years in prison. Any person who gets arrested for driving under the influence and has ever in their past been convicted of vehicular homicide or vehicular assault – because of intoxication – can be charged with felony DUI, he said.

Alternatively, a person who has had three DUI convictions and is arrested for driving under the influence a fourth time within a 10-year period, can be also charged with felony DUI, Meagher said.

According to charging documents and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy pulled Blunt over about 1:30 a.m. on Friday on Centralia Alpha Road near Oppelt Road because he was traveling 65 mph in a 50 mph zone.

He didn’t have a valid driver’s license and allegedly told the deputy he’d taken the tabs off his girlfriend’s Mustang and put them on his truck. The Hard Lemonade container in his vehicle was about half empty, and Blunt said that’s all the alcohol he’d had. Field sobriety tests were conducted. Then he was arrested.

Tiller told the judge yesterday she believed he qualified for a court appointed attorney. Judge Lawler appointed Kevin Nelson.

Blunt’s arraignment was scheduled for Thursday.

Janet L. Anderson prepares to leave the courtroom, after being sentenced to more than 18 years in prison.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  The woman who fatally shot her husband inside their north Centralia home made two phone calls the day of the murder to the woman she believed was having an affair with her husband, authorities say.

“We know there was an argument,” Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead said as he sought to share some details with the judge at her sentencing hearing.

There was no trial to reveal all the evidence police had gathered, as 40-year-old Janet L. Anderson entered into a deal with prosecutors that led to her pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Halstead said prosecutors had contemplated increasing the charge to first-degree murder.

Janet L. Anderson, Dec. 2016

Anderson went before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon, knowing a recommendation for her to spend more than 18 years in prison was coming.

She appeared to go out of her way to keep her back to the audience which held numerous family.

While the initial affidavit of probable cause stated Anderson later told police that after two hours of fighting, she shot her husband because he grabbed his gun and was pointing it at her, Halstead suggested to the court some of her claims were suspect.

“Each had a gun on their own nightstand,” he said.

She’d said that afterward, she threw a towel over her husband’s gun so their son would not see it, Halstead said. But the towel was both under and over that gun, he said. Police found her blood by her husband’s night stand, indicating she had walked over there to retrieve his gun, according to Halstead.

When Anderson pleaded guilty two weeks ago to second-degree murder, she also pleaded guilty to two counts of tampering with physical evidence.

Four rounds were fired; one through a window, another lodged in a wall, Halstead said. One bullet entered his lower back and another his neck.

Halstead reminded the judge when police entered the couple’s bedroom to investigate, they found the body wrapped in a tarp and that Janet Anderson had cleaned up.

“She didn’t call 911 until the following morning, roughly at 8:30,” he said.

Ty W. Anderson, 41, was dead when officers arrived to the residence off of West Oakview Avenue in the Hunter’s Walk neighborhood the morning of Dec. 17.

“She believed he’d cheated on her with a coworker,” Halstead said.

When they checked her phone records, they saw she had phoned the woman, though the calls were not answered, he said.

In bringing the judge up to speed about what led them all to this day in court, Halstead added that while the couple’s young daughter had spent the night with grandparents, their teenage son came home that night and slept, with his father dead in the next room.

Defense attorney Shane O’Rourke asked the court to adopt the agreed recommendation of  220 months, the high end of the standard sentencing range.

Judge Andrew Toynbee heard from Ty Anderson’s aunt, an uncle and his mother. Each wanted the court to know he was loved and missed. Ty Anderson worked in the woods, went to Alaska and then became an iron worker. He was his mother’s only son.

Judge Toynbee imposed the sentence of 18 years and four months, with three years of supervision after release. He ordered Janet Anderson to get an evaluation for anger management and abide by the recommendations.

“This is a tragedy in all respects,” he said.
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For background, read “Wife of slain Centralia man admits she shot him, avoids trial” from Wednesday September 13, 2017, here

Jian Ming Zhu, left, and Jin Liang Tan await their turn to go in front of a judge in Lewis County Superior Court

Updated at 7:32 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  Two men arrested after more than 2,000 marijuana plants were found growing in two rural Chehalis homes were brought before a judge today in Lewis County Superior Court.

Jin Liang Tan, 36, and Jian Ming Zhu, 61, were held overnight in the Lewis County Jail after search warrants were served yesterday at the 400 block of Centralia-Alpha Road and the 200 block of Pattee Road by a contingent that included local, state and federal authorities.

The investigation stemmed from a May investigation into a marijuana cultivation organization that stretched from California to Washington, according to the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team.

Law enforcement officers found the two men at the Pattee Road residence where they both live. JNET says they also live in San Francisco.

JNET was joined by personnel from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, the Centralia Police Department, the Chehalis Police Department, the Lewis County Regional SWAT Team and the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Control Board. A special agent from the Portland office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly advised Tan of his rights in his native language.

There, police found 1,059 growing plants in several different rooms as well as several pounds of dried product.

At the Centralia-Alpha Road location, authorities seized 28 pounds of dried marijuana from a shop building and then 1,187 plants growing in seven rooms. Thousands of dollars worth of growing equipment was also confiscated from both places, according to JNET.

JNET said yesterday’s event came from information from numerous search warrants, following an earlier seizure of more than 2,500 marijuana plants from a sheriff’s office operation on the 100 block of Senn Road.

Investigators got power records from the two homes and found the usage was 10 times that of comparable-sized residences, according to court documents. During surveillance, they were able to smell the marijuana and came to recognize a van – a Toyota Sienna – at both residences which is registered to Zhu, court documents relate.

The men were charged today with manufacture of marijuana, a class C felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison. However, the allegation is the activities took place within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop, which carries an additional penalty, if convicted.

According to charging documents, Tan told law enforcement he tends to the plants, has transported large amounts of marijuana to Seattle in exchange for $900 per pound and that “random” people pick up the bulk marijuana. He said he has been given money orders by Zhu to pay the utilities.

JNET indicates it believes all the marijuana from this investigation is shipped through the mail and over the highway system to the East Coast.

In court this afternoon, an interpreter said she was called in for a Mandarin language case, but this was a Cantonese case, and she proceeded to assist.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Blye told the judge neither man had any criminal history that she was aware of. Temporary defense attorney Rachael Tiller asked for court appointed lawyers for both men.

Blye asked Judge James Lawler to set their bail with unsecured $10,000 bonds, and the judge agreed. Their arraignments were scheduled for Oct. 26.

Marijuana is legal in Washington under the provisions of Initiative 502, allowing a person 21 or older to possess up to one ounce of dried product and other infused items. It is also legal medicinally where, with the proper documentation, one can grow between six and 15 plants under RCW 69.51A, according to JNET.

“This operation was clearly an abuse of Washington State laws,” the group stated in a press release.

This case is still being investigated by JNET and other state and federal agencies.

There are several outstanding suspects in this investigation that are being sought, according to JNET.

The drug detectives ask that anyone who has information that would assist during the ongoing investigation to please contact them at 360-330-7680.

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Indoor nursery at Centralia-Alpha Road location. / Courtesy photo by JNET

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  Centralia police just recently trained to carry and use doses of Narcan administered the opiate antidote to a woman found not breathing and without a pulse last night and she was revived.

An officer responded to a 12:46 a.m. call for a reported drug overdose at the 800 block of Euclid Way, according to the Centralia Police Department. The 36-year-old woman appeared to be overdosing on heroin, according to police.

The officer administered Narcan and began CPR. The woman became responsive and was transported to the emergency room at Providence Centralia Hospital.

It was just last month when the Lewis County Department of Public Health and Social Services announced it had received a grant which would provide the specialized training for law enforcement officers from the Centralia Police Department, the Chehalis Police Department and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

“Officers often see overdose patients before emergency medical aid arrives or has even been summoned,” LCPHSS employee Katie Strozyk stated in a press release. “With this training, they will be able to administer Narcan to those found in severe distress from an apparent opioid overdose.”

Officers are being deployed with the nasal spray form of the drug Naloxone, which counteracts and reverses the life-threatening effects of an opioid overdose, according to Strozyk.

Opioids include both prescription and illicit drugs, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, heroin, and fentanyl. Opioids cause death by slowing, and eventually stopping the victim’s breathing.

Strozyk says there are no ill effects on the patient if Narcan is administered and no opioids are present.

The new tool is part of a strategy to combat the opioid epidemic and reduce overdose deaths in Lewis County, according to Strozyk.

Strozyk said that in Lewis County, 42 overdose deaths from opioids occurred between 2011 and 2015. Nationwide 33,091 people died in 2015 from an opioid overdose, she said.

The opioid epidemic was declared a national emergency on August 10, following the recommendation of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and Opioid Crisis.

President Donald J. Trump instructed his administration to use all appropriate emergency and other authorities to respond to the crisis caused by the opioid epidemic.

The local program was made possible by a $3,000 grant awarded to Lewis County Department of Public Health and Social Services by the West Region EMS Trauma & Care Council and in collaboration with the University of Washington’s Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute.

Strozyk notes that Narcan may also be used by officers who have been exposed to a high-potency drug, such as fentanyl, which can be absorbed through the skin or inhaled if it becomes airborne.

“Law enforcement agencies nationwide have seen an increase in accidental exposures to the opiate drug fentanyl which can have lethal consequences if not treated immediately,” Washington State Patrol Lt. Mike Eggleston said earlier this month.

The state patrol is distributing Narcan to Washington State crime labs in case of accidental exposures.

The state patrol also recently began issuing Narcan to troopers, and eventually all troopers will have it in their patrol cars.

Drug overdose is the leading cause of unintentional injury death in Washington state, ahead of motor vehicle-related deaths.

The Good Samaritan drug overdose law protects persons who seek medical assistance for someone experiencing a drug-related overdose, and the patient,  from being charged or prosecuted for possession of a controlled substance.

Updated at 7:16 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  A volunteer firefighter was airlifted after a fire engine rolled off a roadway as it responded to a call for a smoke investigation last night in central Lewis County.

The driver of the Lewis County Fire District 8 engine was on his way to a 9:34 p.m. call and traveling on the 700 block of Cinebar Road, according to Lewis County Fire District 1.

“He contacted dispatch at 9:43 p.m. saying he had wrecked and needed help,” District 1 Assistant Chief Rhonda Volk said.

She and six others from the Onalaska department responded, Volk said. A District 8 crew responded as well.

They found the truck a ways down a heavily wooded and steep embankment, where it was laying on its side, having crashed into a large maple tree, Volk said.

They had to use a chainsaw to get access to the driver, but he was conscious and still talking, according to Volk.

He was airlifted from District 8’s main station in Salkum, but Volk didn’t know what hospital he was flown to. District 8 Chief Duran McDaniel, who was out of town, said later today the injured firefighter was life-flighted to St. Joseph Hospital in Tacoma.

They plan to keep him for a couple more days, McDaniel said.

“We know he’s bruised, but no other complications other than majorly bruised up,” he said.

The chief spoke to the injured firefighter, who is one of his lieutenants, this evening; he said an elk walked out in front of him, he said.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Patrol both responded to the scene.

It was their second-newest engine that was damaged, but the department has a reserve engine it can use, according to McDaniel.

Volk said she believed the smoke or fire investigation call the driver was headed to was for a bonfire.

McDaniel said the injured firefighter was going out to deal with someone who was violating the burn ban, a chore that has caused the chief increasing frustration.

Early last week, McDaniel said he’d been called out every day during the previous week for people in the district burning campfires, something currently prohibited.

He knows the subject of last night’s call didn’t cause the fire truck to crash, but it was an otherwise unnecessary dispatch.

“If people would just follow the rules, we don’t have to put the trucks on the road,” McDaniel said.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  Lewis County leaders have changed the rules once and now they are prepared to do it again to avoid euthanizing a dog that was condemned under a set of strict procedures regarding animals that kill a domestic animal or severely injure a human.

Hank the pit bull terrier who remains impounded at the Lewis County Animal Shelter is at the center of a controversy in which his supporters say he was wrongly designated a dangerous dog after he was implicated with his mother in killing two goats last year in Winlock. He was just a puppy and his mother was the actual attacker, they say.

Tank, now Hank

Under Lewis County code, there was no option other than death for the canine, once his original owner decided she couldn’t meet the county demands including an escape-proof enclosure and a $500,000 bond. However, unbeknownst to most county officials, the dog was spirited out of the shelter because “there was a feeling it wasn’t really dangerous.”

His name was changed from Tank to Hank and the 2-year-old was adopted to a Centralia family unaware of his background. Jann Propp-Estimo described the dog she met at the shelter in January as just wagging his tail with a stuffed toy in his mouth, the only dog there not barking. Shelter Manager Amy Hanson had written in a message trying to persuade a rescue group to take him, that he continued to be a polite sweet dog at all times.

Hank lived with Propp-Estimo and then her son and grandson until May, when the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office and the Board of (Lewis) County Commissioners learned what had occurred and he was impounded again.

Criminal charges were filed against Hanson and her boss, Danette York, but have been put on hold in a case that is being handled by the Pacific County Prosecutor’s Office.

Commissioners, working with Lewis County Civil Deputy Prosecutor David Fine, approved an amendment to the dangerous dog ordinance that allowed Propp-Estimo to ask a Lewis County District Court judge to erase the label of dangerous, through allowing consideration of new evidence including present behavior. That effort failed in June, was appealed and has been upheld.

Now, county commissioners and Fine are contemplating another amendment which basically says, even if a dog meets the definition of a dangerous animal, Lewis County District Court has other options besides ordering the dog to be put down.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said today the proposed change is not because of any predicament the county finds itself in, having adopted the pet out to a family and then taking it back. Propp-Estimo and Bellingham animal lawyer Adam Karp have a case seeking relief in federal court.

“I think everyone agrees, no one wants to kill the dog,” Meyer said.

The code amendment would allow District Court other avenues, he said.

Board of (Lewis) County Commissioners Chair Gary Stamper said the idea is a more flexible code going forward. Times and attitudes towards pets have changed, he said.

“People had the idea we wanted the dog euthanized,” Stamper said. “That’s not the case.”

In early August, a dozen individuals stood outside the Historic Lewis County Courthouse, holding up “Honk for Hank” signs and showing their support. They brought commissioners signatures they said were from more than 148,000 people who wanted to save the pit bull terrier. Meyer today spoke of getting a phone call from someone in another state about Hank.

A public hearing on the proposed code changes will be held at 10 a.m. on Oct. 2 in the same building, where commissioners hold their meetings. People can share their opinions at that time, in person and also in writing.

Ordinance 1280 would amend Chapter 6.05, “Animals,” of the Lewis County code because, “the public interest is best served by permitting a District Court judge, in a limited circumstance, to permit a dangerous dog not to be euthanized.”

The greater discretion it would give a Lewis County District Court judge includes the judge may rule that an animal that harbors a potential to, or is even likely to harm people or domestic animals, can be released to a party to the action. The judge can order it to be housed and maintained under specified conditions subject to proof of compliance.

If adopted, it could be enacted immediately.

“We knew there were some errors, we tried to right the ship as quick as possible,” Stamper said.
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For background, read “Higher court agrees with Judge Buzzard’s order that dog should be euthanized” from Friday September 8, 2017, here