Centralia’s “Spooker” gets extra prison time for assault due to gang affiliation

July 10th, 2013
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Joshua D. C. Rhoades faces a judge in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 32-year-old Centralia resident said to be the leader of the local LVL gang was sentenced today to a little more than nine years in prison for a roughly 30 to 40 second fight earlier this year on a Centralia street in which a 17-year-old boy was knocked unconscious.

Joshua Rhoades was convicted by a jury in April of second-degree assault.

His one-week-old baby boy was among a handful of family members and friends present during this morning’s proceedings in Lewis County Superior Court. They were out numbered by law enforcement officers in the courtroom.

Prosecutors said during his trial that Rhoades jumped out of a car, flashing gang signs and asking the teen and his two friends if they knew who he was and if they were  rival “Nortenos”. The teenager Dustin McLean testified Rhoades held a closed knife in his fist as he struck him.

The brief brawl in downtown Centralia on Jan 31 included two of Rhoades’ companions as well as at least two of the three boys. McLean said he was hit well over 20 times.

Defense attorney Chris Baum asked the judge today to give his client 65 months, the bottom of the standard sentencing range. The top was 82 months. Baum said there was a lot of discussion of gang activity by the prosecutor during the trial, but the injury itself not that serious and it was more like a misdemeanor assault.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Joely O’Rourke recommended the judge sentence Rhoades to the maximum of 10 years, noting the special finding by the jury allowed the judge to go above the standard range.

O’Rourke said Rhoades is well known to Centralia police, who say he is the leader of the LVL and that he assaulted the teenager without provocation.

LVL stands for Little Valley Locos or Little Valley Lokotes a gang locally made up mostly of individuals who grew up in Centralia when it was particularly active in the summer of 2007. Police say Rhoades goes by the street name Spooker.

“This is one of the few times a victim has been brave enough to come in and testify against Mr. Rhoades,” O’Rourke said.

She said the teen’s family has taken him out of school and moved away because he has been threatened, harassed and assaulted since the trial.

Rhoades maintained his innocence when asked by the judge if he wanted to make any statement.

“Well, Ms. O’Rourke, because of me being who I am or whatever, she had no problem offering me a plea bargain of 80 months,” Rhoades said.

Judge James Lawler gave Rhoades 10 months less than 10 years, so that he could also impose 10 months of supervision by the state Department of Corrections upon his release.

The basis for the exceptional sentence was because of the special gang finding by the jury, Lawler said.

The jury had found the assault was committed with a deadly weapon and also a so-called aggravator that the incident was intended to enhance Rhoades’ affiliation in a street gang.

Rhoades previous most recent criminal convictions are for malicious mischief in 2008 and third-degree assault in 2004. Before that, he has convictions for intimidating a witness and theft in 2000 and a second-degree assault in 1999, and then a juvenile record.

His attorney filed a notice of appeal.
•••

For background, read “Lewis County jury convicts Centralia gang member of assault on teen” from Friday April 26, 2013, here

News brief: Happy ending for Salkum fire department call

July 10th, 2013

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Twelve minutes from dispatch time to locating two missing children last night in the Salkum area.

Fire Chief Duran McDaniel today is singing the praises for one of his volunteers who spotted the girls, ages 6 and 11, in the darkness alongside Gore Road near Stowell Road.

About 10 members of the volunteer department answered the call just after 11 p.m. to assist the sheriff’s office after the youngsters vanished from a babysitters home on the 400 block of Gore Road, McDaniel said. “That’s everybody’s worst nightmare, kids missing,” he said.

Fire Lt. Tim Robinson had picked up a department command vehicle from the main station on U.S. Highway 12 and had just started up Gore Road, he said.

He happened to glance in his rear view mirror and saw from the glow of his tail lights two figures coming out from the ditch, McDaniel said. The girls must have stepped off the road when they saw his headlights, he said.

Robinson picked the children up and delivered them to sheriff’s deputies.

“His sharp eyes saved hours of work,” McDaniel said of the longtime volunteer firefighter.

McDaniel said his understanding was the youngsters decided on their own to walk home from the sitter’s place. They had already traveled two to three miles, he said, in the right direction but in the dark.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

July 10th, 2013
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Courtesy photo by Jessica Burd

VW TARGETED BY FIREWORKS

• Firefighters were called about 12:15 a.m. today to a report of a car on fire which was parked near the intersection of South Tower Avenue and East Main Street in Centralia. The damage to the 1971 Volkswagen station wagon was limited, because patrons at the Hub Tavern had sprayed it with a fire extinguisher, however police were called as it turned out someone had dropped a lit firework through the open sunroof, according to Riverside Fire Authority. It was found sitting on the seat, Fire Capt. Tim Adolphsen said. The Centralia Police Department said this morning they have no suspects. The car belongs to a 36-year-old Centralia man, according to police.

UNRULY ASSAULT SUSPECT

• Chehalis police called about 11 p.m. yesterday about a man chasing a woman around the Wal-Mart parking lot on the 1600 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue subsequently located a 30-year-old individual from Melba, Idaho and cited him for fourth-degree domestic assault. Chehalis detective Sgt. Gary WIlson said Allan M. Carroll was intoxicated and belligerent and threatened to “do bad things” to the arresting officer when he got out of jail so he was booked for intimidating a public servant.

BURGLARY AND THEFT

• A deputy called to the 2900 block of Jackson Highway south of Chehalis about 1:30 p.m. yesterday found two residences which had been broken into. Someone rummaged through several rooms at one home and next door, stole an Xbox and an iPad, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

• Centralia police were called about 8:20 p.m. yesterday to the 300 block of North Tower Avenue where the back door of a business had been forced open. Nobody got inside, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• An officer took a report of medication stolen from a residence at the 1400 block of Johnson Road in Centralia yesterday.

DRUGS

• Centralia police took a report yesterday from a 34-year-old Mossyrock man that his vehicle was stolen but concluded it really wasn’t and as he was taken into custody for making a false police report, suspected methamphetamine was found. The contact with an officer took place about 11:20 a.m. at the 1300 block of Lakeshore Drive, according to the Centralia Police Department. Booked into the Lewis County Jail was Christopher M. Jacobson.

VEHICLE PROWL

• A wallet was stolen from a vehicle at the 700 block of G Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police about 9:25 a.m. yesterday.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor domestic assaults, violation of a protection order, driving with suspended license; responses for alarms, disputes, suspicious circumstances, various other misdemeanor thefts, non-injury collisions, possible suicidal subject; complaint about a dirty pickup truck left parked in front of a business for three days … and more.

Former bank teller charged with theft from Morton Athletic Association

July 9th, 2013

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The now former treasurer of an organization for youth sports has been accused of misappropriating funds that were kept in the Morton bank where she worked.

Sarah J. Erskine, 34, handled the money for the Morton Athletic Association, for “gosh, several years,” the group’s president Chad Cramer said.

Cramer went to Morton Police Chief Dan Mortensen in mid-May after he and other members who had been scrutinizing the records for several months suspected the treasurer had been dipping into the accounts for about two years.

“No, she’s not still treasurer,” Cramer said today.

The association historically has organized, run or financially supported various non-school based activities from T-Ball and Babe Ruth Baseball to basketball, football and cheerleading, according to Cramer. Mostly for children younger than middle school age, he said.

He called it a 40-year-old institution that’s always been run by adults who are friends, kind of on handshakes an agreements.

“It appeared to Cramer that Erskine was taking money from different accounts and then making an effort to replace that money,” court documents state. “Cramer told Mortensen he believed Erskine got in too deep and couldn’t pay all the money back.”

The amount in question is alleged to be upwards of $12,000.

The investigation by the Morton Police Department began on May 13 and concluded on June 20.

“I will make the point Sarah did pay the money back that was remaining, immediately upon everything coming to light,” Cramer said this afternoon.

Court documents confirm that by mid-June, the accounts were replenished and shortages repaid by her family. Many personal friends also helped her pay some of it back, according to court documents.

Cramer said in court documents Erskine was a teller at Sterling Savings Bank but was fired recently because of the issue. The bank only confirmed she no longer is employed there.

A charge of first-degree theft has been filed in Lewis County Superior Court. Erskine has not been arrested, but summonsed to appear before a judge on July 19.

The case comes on the heels of another local misuse of a fund meant for young people operated by a group of parents.

A 43-year-old Chehalis man was charged this spring with helping himself to some $8,000 from an account run by in part by his wife for the W.F. West High School senior class.

Robert N. Downs Jr.  was charged with first-degree theft and 14 counts of forgery, as he allegedly signed his wife’s name to checks written out to himself. When Chehalis police announced their findings in March, they indicated that Downs’ wife had replaced the missing money after she learned of the losses.

Downs has pleaded not guilty but is scheduled to appear in court on July 24 to change his plea. Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said today he offered him a deal in which he could go to prison for one year and one day.

In Erskine’s case, she met with the police chief voluntarily in May, cried, said she was prepared to finish paying the final $3,000 remaining and that she’d “just gotten caught up in everything,” according to court documents.

Sterling Bank held four accounts for the Morton Athletic Association. It appeared Erskine had generated a debit card for her own use, court documents state.

Court documents state her mother-in-law went to the police chief last month and payed the last of debt. “Sarah told her she used the money to pay personal bills,” the documents state.

Cramer provided the police chief records highlighting the withdrawals he did not think were costs incurred by the association. They included expenditures at Bailey’s IGA, Wal-Mart, the Shell gas station in Morton, Big 5 Sporting Goods and Centralia Factory Outlets, according to the court documents.

Attempts to reach Erskine for comment were unsuccessful.

Cramer suggested he bore some responsibility for the situation going undetected. He said the MAA board has been in transition, with many of the long term participants stepping down as their children had grown up, including Erskine.

“Which is maybe why this wasn’t being watched as closely as it should have,” he said.

He couldn’t think of any ways it has affected the youth involved, but is mainly concerned about preserving the group’s integrity.

The association is in the final stages of a lengthy process of combining into a new organization with similar groups from the Randle  and farther east areas, he said. It’s called the Morton-White Pass Athletic Association.

“We’ve just got our board and our bylaws,” he said.

Cramer said they’ve put out the word the public is welcome to their board meetings and to ask questions. The next one is July 19.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

July 9th, 2013

UNITS AT STORAGE BUSINESS PILFERED

• Some clever thief broke into at least two storage units at a business near Centralia but replaced the cut padlocks with new ones so as not arouse the suspicion of employees, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy responding yesterday morning to the 3200 block of Ives Road learned that a washer and dryer were removed from one unit, according to the sheriff’s office. Another victim is still compiling a list of missing items. It occurred inside the fenced compound of Prairie Storage sometime since noon on Friday, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

ATTEMPTED FUEL THEFT

• An officer was called yesterday morning to a car lot on the 300 block of South Pearl Street in Centralia after the discovery someone had tried to siphon gas from numerous vehicles. The gas caps were removed, according to the Centralia Police Department.

THEFT

• Centralia police were called about 3:15 p.m. yesterday to the 1200 block of West Main Street regarding fraudulent charges made on a stolen credit card.

• Centralia police were called yesterday morning to Quality Rentals on the 1400 block of South Gold Street where someone had stolen tools and a mattress out of a company truck.

PROTEST DRAWS POLICE IN CHEHALIS

• Chehalis police were called to the property outside Green Hill School for boys yesterday when a group of demonstrators gathered. Detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said at one point there were as many as 25 individuals, with a sign saying free all prisoners and a loud speaker, some banging pots and pans and some tossing fireworks. Wilson said it apparently coincided with an event at the jail in King County. Officers monitored the situation and avoided arresting anyone, since that’s what the participants seemed to hope for, Wilson said.

REALLY?

• A 17-year-old boy who said he saw a deer on the side of the road and pulled his emergency brake lost control of his car and wrecked it last night along the 500 block of Lincoln Creek Road outside Centralia. His 2004 Hyundai Elantra sustained major damage, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy arriving about 8:30 p.m. cited the Rochester motorist for second-degree negligent driving, according to the sheriff’s office. Nobody was taken to the hospital.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrant, driving with a suspended license, shoplifting; responses for alarms, misdemeanor theft, parking lot hit and run, family disputes, seemingly inappropriate activity by a pair of juveniles at park, small dogs alone inside a hot vehicle; complaint about smelly garbage piling up at a neighbor’s and a rat coming over … and more.

Read about Pope’s Kids Place sued over 5-year-old’s death …

July 9th, 2013

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The (Tacoma) News Tribune reports the family of a 5-year-old special needs child whose breathing tube fell out while he was being cared for at Pope’s Kids Place has filed a lawsuit against the Centralia facility.

News reporter Adam Lynn writes an attorney for the parents of Nickolas Hogue stated that staff there disconnected a monitoring device which would have sounded an alarm during the incident on Dec. 30.

The Pierce County boy who had cerebral palsy suffered irreparable brain damage and was removed from life support and died a few days later, according to Lynn.

Read about it here

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

July 8th, 2013

Updated at 7:01 p.m.

OUT OF CONTROL MAN IN UNDERWEAR ARRESTED

• A 32-year-old Chehalis man was arrested after he reportedly was running around in circles in his neighborhood wearing only his underwear, yelling incoherently and intermittently jumping in the air and flopping onto the ground. It happened about 1:10 p.m. on Friday in the area of Southwest Cascade Avenue and Lewis Street in Chehalis. The subject allegedly fought with deputies after he was Tased as they tried to detain him, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Responding deputies, police and aid were allegedly spit upon before Rikardo H. St. Catherine was taken to the hospital to be checked out for clearance so he could be booked into the jail, according to police. He was booked for third-degree assault, according to the sheriff’s office.

CHILD UNDRESSING SELF DRAWS OFFICER

• Chehalis police were called on Friday night to Southwest William Avenue and Third Street regarding an 8-year-old boy who had reportedly dropped his pants in front of  6-year-old girl. No crime was committed but the officer had a conversation with the child about appropriate behavior, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

ASSAULT OF CHILD

• Centralia police responded just before 6 p.m. yesterday to the 2300 block of North Pearl Street in connection with an alleged misdemeanor assault upon a child. A suspect has been identified and the case is under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department. Further details were not readily available.

OFFICER PUNCHED, MAN TASED

• A 58-year-old Toledo man was arrested for assault over the weekend after he allegedly “sucker punched” a police officer in the mouth who had given him a ride home from a bar, where officers had been called because of the man’s angry manner. It happened around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday. Gregory A. King was calmed down and accepted a ride home from Toledo Police Department Officer Samuel Patrick but then became increasingly rude, according to charging documents. After he was let out of the backseat of the patrol car, King allegedly got within several inches of the officer, thrusting his hands toward his face, when the officer put his hand on King’s chest, charging documents state. After Patrick was struck, he deployed his Taser into King until he could be detained with the help from others officers who came to help, according to charging documents. King was charged today with third-degree assault and ordered held on $20,000 bail.

BREAK-INS

• Someone stole a 357 Magnum revolver, a 22 long rifle and a pistol from a home on the 100 block of Morris Road in Randle. A deputy called to the home on Saturday was told by the 53-year-old woman who lives there it occurred sometime since Wednesday, according to the sheriff’s office. Also taken was a brown leather holster, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

• A deputy was called on Sunday morning after a 74-year-old Mossyrock-area resident discovered someone had come into his home and drank his liquor and stole his Colt revolver sometime since mid-February while he had been away. There was no sign of forced entry but also missing from the residence on the 100 block of Salmon Creek Road was an Italian leather holster, according to the sheriff’s office.

• Someone broke through a skylight at a home on the 2100 block of Seminary Hill Road and stole various items including $2,000 cash from a bedroom drawer and numerous video tapes, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy called to the residence yesterday was told the victim returned home after being away for a month and discovered the burglary, according to the sheriff’s office. Several rooms were ransacked, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

• A 52-year-old man who lives of the 2800 block of Little Hanaford Road outside Centralia reported he arrived home about 2 a.m. on Sunday to discover someone had broken a window and come inside his residence. It occurred sometime since Wednesday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. It wasn’t immediately obvious if anything was missing, according to the sheriff’s office.

PURSES STOLEN

• Police were called about 6:30 p.m. yesterday to a store on the 1300 block of Lum Road in Centralia regarding the theft of a number of purse. Officers were given the license plate numbers of the fleeing vehicle and will be reviewing security video of the suspects, according to police.

VEHICLE PROWL

• Chehalis police were called about 3:30 a.m. yesterday about a vehicle prowl just discovered on the 400 block of Northeast Adams Avenue. Along the way, the responding officer picked up a tool box observed sitting on the side of the road, which turned out to be what was stolen, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• Centralia police took a report just before 6 p.m. yesterday that someone entered a garage at the 200 block of North King Street and rummaged through a vehicle.

• Police took a report yesterday of a vehicle prowl at the 1100 block of Brotherson Road in Centralia. A key found broken off in the ignition suggests someone was going to steal the vehicle, according to the Centralia Police Department.

NOT GOING TO THE LOST AND FOUND

• Chehalis police were called about 11:25 a.m. on Saturday to Safeway on the 1100 block of South Market Boulevard where a manager turned over a bag of marijuana that someone must have lost at the store. The item was taken for destruction, not to be put in the lost and found, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

ANIMAL RESCUE

• An officer was called about 12:30 p.m. on Saturday to a report a fawn was trapped inside the fenced area of a storage business on the 1900 block of Northeast Kresky Avenue. It’s mother was reportedly on the outside of the fence.

SEX CRIME

• A 30-year-old Chehalis man was arrested on Saturday at his home for an alleged past incident of inappropriate sexual contact with a 4-year-old child he is related to. Michael E. Miller was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Chehalis Police Department. The case is still under investigation, according to police. Bail was set at $100,000 today, based on a court-approved “hold” but no charges have been filed. Prosecutors have 72 hours to either file charges or release Miller, according to Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer.

ACCIDENTS

• An 18-year-old motorcyclist was airlifted after an accident yesterday at the Burnt Ridge Motocross Park near Cinebar. Lewis County Fire District 8 was called about 2:15 p.m. to the 400 block of Johnson Road to assist an on-duty EMT after the crash, according to Chief Duran McDaniel. “There was quite a bit of damage to his helmet, so based on that we airlifted him from the football field in Onalaska,” McDaniel said. McDaniel said yesterday’s event involved riders as young as 14 and into their late 20s. The patient is from the Vancouver area, so he was flown to Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver, according to McDaniel.

• An 18-year-old Centralia man and his passenger reportedly escaped injury after a rollover accident on the 600 block of Curtis Hill Road west of Chehalis. A deputy responding to the scene about 10:30 a.m. on Saturday was told the driver had just gotten his license four days earlier and was traveling down the hill in neutral to conserve fuel but got going too fast and lost control of his car. The 2004 Saturn was described as totaled, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

• Chehalis police were called about 2:25 p.m. on Friday after a motorist said the bar in front of the railroad tracks at Northwest State Avenue came down and struck her car. She said the warning lights didn’t flash until after the bar dropped down, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• Lewis County Fire District 8 was called to the 500 block of Brim Road southwest of Salkum for a quad accident about 11:45 p.m. on Friday. A male and a female patient were transported to Providence Centralia Hospital for evaluation, according to Chief Duran McDaniel.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrant, misdemeanor domestic assault, violations of no contact orders; responses for alarms, shoplifting, disputes, collisions, someone observing someone in a vehicle smoking marijuana in a parking lot, snarling pups running loose; complaints about loud music at the neighbors, fireworks … and more.