By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Kirotv.com reports federal agents have raided a number of medical marijuana dispensaries including one in Olympia.
While Washington state has its owns rules on the medical use of cannabis and in December legalized recreational use for those 21 and older, pot still remains illegal under federal law.
Read more here
Updated
DOG KNOCKS SUSPECT TO THE GROUND
• A wanted man who was spotted and then took off running from a Chehalis officer was tackled by police dog Reign and then taken into custody overnight. Officer Warren Ayers recognized 22-year-old Ammahad A. Bradley when he saw him walking in the area of West Main Street and Railroad Avenue about 1:30 a.m., according to the Chehalis Police Department. Detective Sgt. Gary WIlson said the subject began struggling with Ayers and then fled, even as he was warned about the canine partner. “He popped the door, the dog takes off, tackles him, basically knocks the guy to the ground,” WIlson said. Bradley, who previously lived in Chehalis, was wanted by police in Snohomish County for a July 13 incident in which he rammed a car and then led police on a pursuit, according to authorities. An officer from the Mountlake Terrace Police Department came down and picked him up, Wilson said.
ASSAULT
• Centralia police took a report of a domestic assault alleged to have occurred about a year ago at the 2800 block of Russell Road, which was reported yesterday. The case is under investigation but appears there is no evidence and not much to follow up on, according to the Centralia Police Department.
BREAK-IN CENTRALIA
• Centralia police were called to the 900 block of South Pearl Street just before 3 p.m. yesterday about a burglary in which a shotgun, jewelry and money were stolen. The case is still under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.
WORKER ACCUSED OF STEALING
• An officer responded to the Sears store at the Lewis County Mall yesterday evening for a report of employee theft. The case is being referred to the Lewis County Prosecutors Office with a recommended charge of second-degree theft, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Further details weren’t readily available.
VEHICLE PROWL
• Two individuals from Tacoma were arrested for allegedly removing the wheels and tires from a vehicle that broke down and was left at a parking lot in Randle at U.S. Highway 12 and state Route 131, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning. One of the suspects said he planned to sell them to get money for gas and food, according to the sheriff’s office. Arrested were David L. Glenn, 32, and 18-year-old Lee A. Green, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.
VANDALISM
• Someone used chalk to leave graffiti on the side of a building in the 300 block of South Tower Avenue in Centralia, according to police.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, trespass, misdemeanor domestic assault; responses for alarm, minor collisions, disorderly subject, suspicious person, possibly suicidal subject; complaints of barking dogs and more.
Updated at 5:07 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The 94-year-old woman found dead yesterday in a river in the south end of the Boistfort Valley was legally blind and liked to walk along the river on her property, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
Alice Cripe was discovered down a steep embankment, resting against some rocks in the South Fork of the Chehalis River on her own property, according to authorities.
Her death was an accident, Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said today. Alice Cripe fell down, hit her head and drowned, according to McLeod.
The sheriff’s office doesn’t know exactly when it happened.
Family members from California visited her house on the 1000 block of Wildwood Road on Monday night, leaving around 9 p.m.; and when they returned yesterday morning could not find her inside but subsequently located her body, according to the sheriff’s office.
Sheriff’s Office Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said the bank was perhaps 10 to 15 feet down, although detectives don’t know for sure how far she fell.
Fire Chief Gregg Peterson said she is a long time resident of the Boistfort Valley and she lived alone.
It was just a little more than a year ago at the north end of the Boistfort Valley that 8-year-old Nicholas Matchett drowned after he apparently slipped off the steep bank behind his home into the river.
ANGRY DAD
• A 47-year-old man was arrested yesterday morning in Pe Ell after he allegedly went to his daughter’s residence uninvited and threatened a 21-year-old man who was there. Deputies called about 7:35 a.m. to the 100 block of East Fifth Street were told the man had been asked to leave but returned and at some point called the younger man out to fight saying he was going to get a gun and shoot him and put him “six-feet under,” according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Brandt D. McKenna, a Chehalis area resident, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for felony harassment, according to the sheriff’s office. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said she didn’t know what he was upset about.
POLICE: SHOPLIFT TURNS BAD
• A 20-year-old Centralia man who allegedly attempted to steal beer from the grocery on the 500 block of South Tower Avenue was arrested after he reportedly pulled the bottle from his pants and tried to hit a store security person with it last night. Officers called about 9 p.m. report Erik L. Bushnell was “subdued” by the employee and bystanders. He was arrested for second-degree robbery and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.
TALL TALE LANDS ‘VICTIM’ IN JAIL
• A 20-year-old Centralia woman was arrested for false reporting after she allegedly went to the hospital and told a story that her ex-boyfriend had assaulted her. A deputy called about 9:30 p.m. yesterday to Providence Centralia Hospital was told by the young woman that it occurred at the Mount Adams Apartments in Randle, and that the ex punched her in the eye and sprained her wrist, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A skeptical deputy who saw no injuries warned her of the seriousness of making a false statement to an officer, and she allegedly confessed to making it up because her new boyfriend was going to break up with her for seeing her old boyfriend, according to the sheriff’s office. Donna H. Sisk was booked into the Lewis County Jail, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.
DRUGS
• An 18-year-old Centralia resident was arrested for possession of methamphetamine about 1:30 p.m. yesterday at the 1400 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia. Detectives went to the apartment complex to talk with someone about suspected drug activity and ended up finding drugs in Jose A. Escamilla’s backpack, according to police. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department. Another person was picked up on an outstanding warrant at the same time, Sgt. Carl Buster said.
• A 26-year-old Centralia woman was arrested last night following a traffic stop for driving with a suspended license and then also for possession of methamphetamine. Courtney R. Blurton was contacted by an officer about 9 p.m. at Southwest McFadden Avenue and Ninth Street, according to the Chehalis Police Department. “The officer asked if she had anything illegal on her person and she said yes,” Deputy Chief Randy Kaut said. Blurton was booked into the Lewis County Jail.
THEFT
• Police were called to a home on the 1100 block of Roosevelt Avenue in Centralia about 11:10 a.m. yesterday regarding several hundred dollars missing. The case is under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.
VEHICLE VERSUS BIKE
• A 14-year-old boy was knocked off his bicycle by a vehicle at the 800 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia about 3:25 p.m. yesterday. Centralia Police Department Sgt. Carl Buster said he understood it was by a car pulling out of a driveway and the teen was unhurt.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving with suspended license, misdemeanor domestic assault; responses for alarm, misdemeanor theft; complaints of a male who looks high and is asking people for money at the Twin City Town Center, barking neighbor dog … and more.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The body of an elderly woman was discovered in a river in the south end of the Boistfort Valley this morning.
Firefighters and deputies were called about 10:15 a.m. to the area off Wildwood Road, about a mile from Jones Road, according to Lewis County Fire District 13.
Fire Chief Gregg Peterson said the South Fork of the Chehalis River is about a foot and half deep in that area.
“I don’t really know any of the details, we turned it over to the coroner’s office,” Peterson said.
Detectives are investigating, but the death didn’t seem suspicious, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said she expected she would have more information in the morning.
Corey R. Morgan listens to lawyers discuss his bail amount in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The 32-year-old man accused of strangling his girlfriend and trying to cover it up with a story of wrecking his truck after three assailants beat her on a logging road near Morton was ordered held on $500,000 bail yesterday.
Exactly what did happen between Corey R. Morgan and Brenda L. Bail remains mostly a mystery, but Morgan is charged with second-degree murder and Bail is dead after a night of drinking, according to his story.
Prosecutors say Morgan had been sentenced two days earlier for an incident of domestic violence from last fall when he punched her in the face.
Morgan was identified as a Randle resident by the sheriff’s office, but prosecutors indicate the two lived together south of Chehalis. He told law enforcement the 48-year-old was his fiancee and they’d been dating for a number of years.
“When interviewed, the defendant’s cousin, who was aware of the prior domestic violence case, said it was only a matter of time before the defendant did something like this,” prosecutors wrote in charging documents.
His version of events, which authorities have made clear they don’t entirely believe, begins with the couple drinking at the Market Street Pub in Chehalis until about 10 p.m. last Thursday.
He had a few drinks, she had more than five, he said.
According to charging documents filed yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court, he said they left for Wendy’s to get food and dropped some off for her daughter at their home on Pier Road south of Chehalis. Bail’s daughter told law enforcement her mother never came inside the residence.
Morgan said at about 11 p.m., the couple headed out to drink more alcohol at their “special spot” on a logging road about 30 miles away, according to charging documents.
Fast forward to 1:30 a.m. when a resident who lives on state Route 508 not far from the start of the logging road calls 911 to say a man came on foot to her door saying he and his fiancee had been in a wreck and she wasn’t breathing.
Aid crews from Lewis County Fire District 4 responded, along with a Morton police officer, according to the sheriff’s office. They detected no pulse, began CPR and transported Bail by ambulance to Morton General Hospital, according to the sheriff’s office.
Bail was pronounced dead in the emergency room at 2:25 a.m.
Charging documents state that multiple law enforcement officers were dispatched at about 2:30 a.m. after word of the death.
Morgan was questioned.
His truck was found in a ditch along Forest Service Road 73 with minimal damage, although he’d said he’d been traveling at almost 70 mph while being pursued by a Dodge Neon, according to charging documents.
Charging documents state Morgan maintained the same general substance to his story, but there were multiple inconsistencies between interviews with various law enforcement officers.
According to the documents: Morgan said he noticed another vehicle followed them after they turned onto the logging road. He said when they reached their destination, Bail got out to urinate while stayed inside his truck.
He said the car came speeding up at them, made a wild spinout and came to a stop whereupon three males – including his former roommate – jumped out and began repeatedly striking Bail with a Maglight flashlight and a baton.
Morgan said he used his marital arts training to fend them off, even knocking his former roommate out cold.
He said he picked Bail up, put her in the vehicle, sped down the logging road but then crashed into the ditch and got stuck.
He said he’d been hit in the head with the flashlight; law enforcement described the injury on the back of his head as more like a scratch.
The former roommate voluntarily spoke with law enforcement on Friday night and indicated he had “absolutely no idea” what the defendant was talking about. He had no injuries, charging documents state.
The cause of Bail’s death, according to the Lewis County Coroner, was asphyxiation caused by manual strangulation. Blunt force trauma to her head contributed to her demise, according to Coroner Warren McLeod.
The report from the medical examiner noted it would have taken about four to six minutes of strangulation for the death to occur, charging documents state.
In court yesterday afternoon, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke asked for high bail, telling the judge it was a particularly violent homicide.
Morgan sat quietly beside defense attorney Bob Schroeter, with a half dozen individuals in the benches behind him.
Schroeter countered saying his client was a long term resident of the county with a “good” vocational history, commuting to Longview where he worked in an auto detailing shop for three years.
Judge Richard Brosey appointed Centralia attorney Don Blair to represent Morgan and scheduled his arraignment for Thursday morning.
Brenda Bail: Fun at the river in August 2010. / Courtesy photo
SMOKE HOUSE
• Firefighters were called about 9:15 p.m. yesterday to Park Hill Drive in Chehalis when a house began filling up with smoke. Nobody was hurt, it was an issue with a self cleaning oven. Crews shut off the power, pried the oven door open and used a big fan to evacuate the smoke, according to the Chehalis Fire Department. Firefighter Jay Birley said he didn’t think it was a malfunction, just an oven in great need of cleaning. “Typically when you run the self-clean cycle, smoke doesn’t pour out the front,” Birley said.
STAFF MEMBER HIT BY INMATE
• Chehalis police were called to Green Hill School regarding an assault at about 7:15 p.m. on Saturday in which a 17-year-old inmate allegedly punched a male staff member in the face and arm. The case was referred for a possible charge of custodial assault, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
ALLEGED TOUCHING ARREST
• A 44-year-old homeless man was arrested after a deputy was told on Saturday night by a 26-year-old homeless woman that approximately a week earlier, when they were together and she laid down in the grass at the cemetery in Mossyrock and passed out, he touched her in a sexual way. The man was booked into the Lewis County Jail for indecent liberties but was was released today with no charges pending further investigation.
ANGRY BOYFRIEND SOUGHT
• Deputies are looking for a 48-year-old Packwood man who allegedly used his truck to shove another vehicle into a garage door on the 200 block of Cannon Road in Packwood causing about $2,000 damage. It happened about 12 a.m. on Friday when he was angry at his estranged girlfriend who would not come out of the home, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
CASH AND TVS TAKEN IN CHEHALIS BURGLARY
• Someone broke through a back door at a home on the 800 block of Duffy Street in Chehalis and made off with $3,800 cash, two televisions, a bottle of Valium and a jewelry box with 11 rings and two watches inside as well as other items, according to the Chehalis Police Department. An officer called about 3:20 a.m. on Saturday was told it occurred sometime after 10:30 p.m. the night before, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
POLICE: ALLEGED SHOPLIFTER TRIES TO LOSE DRUGS
• A 39-year-old Seattle man was arrested yesterday at the Twin City Town Center for allegedly stealing a pair of shoes and then ditching them under a vehicle as well as dropping a bag of drugs at Wendy’s before he was detained. Officers found suspected cocaine and heroin in a makeup bag near Everett S. Scott and arrested him for possession with intent to deliver, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Officer Linda Bailey said that on the way to the jail, Scott said he’d ingested two grams of cocaine in plastic bags so he was taken to the hospital. However, he refused to follow the procedure hospital staff attempted so he was booked into the Lewis County Jail.
THEFT
• Sometime between Friday and Sunday, someone stole four industrial batteries from the Alexander Lumber Mill on the 1600 block of state Route 508 near Onalaska, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s office. The loss is estimated at $1,000, according to the sheriff’s office.
• Someone stole 50 steel fence posts from the 2500 block of Seminary Hill Road outside Centralia sometime between Friday and Saturday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Also missing were a dozen wooden posts, according to the sheriff’s office.
• A 17-year-old girl turned herself in and was arrested over the weekend for trafficking in stolen property after allegedly stealing an expensive baseball card and selling it for $20. The $800 item is described as a 1991 autographed Mickey Mantle rookie card and was taken from a home on the 100 block of Elloway Oaks Drive outside Chehalis in April but reported on Friday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
• Chehalis police were called about 4:20 p.m. yesterday to Safeway about four individuals who allegedly stole hard liquor and ran away.
• Centralia police took a report of the theft of a license plate yesterday afternoon from the 100 block of South Tower Avenue.
• Police were called about 9:30 a.m. yesterday about a vehicle prowl at the 900 block of B Street.
VANDALISM
• Chehalis police were called about 6:50 p.m. on Saturday about someone spray painting black squiggly marks across a sign on the back of a beige 1980 Toyota pickup truck parked at South Market Boulevard and 12th Street. The sign, addressing Chehalis lawyer John Panesko, was covered in plastic, so the damage was not permanent, according to police. A note left on the windshield said, “Get a life. You’re an F*in loser.” according to police.
WRECKS
• A 21-year-old Centralia man was arrested for driving under the influence after he rolled his pickup truck on Saturday night on the 1600 block of South Schueber Road outside Centralia, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The truck sustained major damage, the driver sustained minor injuries, according to the sheriff’s office. He was taken to the hospital and then released, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.
• A 26-year-old motorist broke his pinkie finger when he drove into several mailboxes and rolled his truck on Friday evening along the 400 block of Newaukum Valley Road, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The Chico, Calif. resident was arrested for driving under the influence and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office. The truck was totaled, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.
• A 27-year-old Centralia woman was arrested for driving under the influence after a collision that left her 1992 Lexus with minor damage on Friday evening long state Route 508 at Gurrier Road near Onalaska, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said the driver was unhurt.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving with suspended license, violation of protection order, misdemeanor assault; responses for alarm, possibly suicidal subject, disorderly subjects, suspicious circumstances; complaints of barking dog, neighbor’s loud music … and more.
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