Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

May 15th, 2013

Updated at 2:07 p.m.

MAN FINDS POULTRY INSIDE HOME, VEHICLE MISSING

• The sheriff’s office is looking for a 22-year-old woman after she reportedly took a position as domestic help but when the 39-year-old Winlock area man who hired her returned from a truck-driving trip, he found she had stolen his pickup and left numerous “free range” chickens roaming about inside his residence. A deputy called about 10 o’clock last night to the home on the 100 block of Meier Road East was told the arrangement was she would cook, clean and do paperwork until she could get back on her feet, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. They met on Craigslist last Friday, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. The missing 2001 Ford pickup truck is valued at $12,000. Brown said it wasn’t yet clear to her where the chickens might have come from.

OOPS

• Officers arriving yesterday to an unoccupied Chehalis house where they were planning to conduct police dog training discovered a 28-year-old man had taken up residence there. The owner of the home on he 300 block of Southwest Riverside Drive had given permission for the police activity but presumable didn’t know about the man who had changed the locks and moved in. Rocky S. Frahm, normally a Centralia resident, who had food, clothing, pots, pans and even a bed, had moved in a few days earlier, according to the Chehalis Police Department. He said one could do it in California, but perhaps he was misled by information he’d seen on the Internet, Officer Linda Bailey said. Frahm was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree burglary. However, he is to be released without charges pending further investigation.

MISSING VEHICLE FOUND

• A 2003 Honda Pilot stolen last week from a Chehalis woman was discovered abandoned yesterday afternoon at the end of Crego Hill Road west of Chehalis, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A survey crew found the car up on blocks, missing its wheels, the sheriff’s office reported.

VEHICLE VERSUS BUILDING

• Centralia police report an officer responded about 4:30 p.m. yesterday to an accident involving a vehicle and a building at the 200 block of West Reynolds Avenue. A resident at Reliable Enterprises accidentally backed into the building and put a hole in the siding, according to the Centralia Police Department.

POSSIBLE NAUGHTY PICTURES TURNED OVER TO POLICE

• Police called to a Chehalis home yesterday afternoon about a 12-year-old who was disorderly because a family member took away her computer are asking detectives to look further into possible inappropriate images reportedly sent to her, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

THEFT

• Chehalis police were called about 5:45 p.m. yesterday to Rite Aid on the 500 block of South Market Boulevard after a customer saw two teenage boys flee the store with alcohol.

• A bank at the 200 block of West Main Street in Centralia called police about 12:45 p.m. yesterday to report a fraud, according to the Centralia Police Department. The case is under investigation.

• Police were called about 9:15 a.m. yesterday to the 1200 block of Searle Drive in Centralia regarding the theft of money from a bank account. The investigation is ongoing, according to the Centralia Police Department.

ASSAULTS AT GREEN HILL SCHOOL

• Chehalis police were called yesterday to Green Hill School after a staff member breaking up a fight was kicked by a resident-inmate. A second call was made regarding a misdemeanor assault at the juvenile incarceration facility on Southwest 11th Street less than three hours later.  Further details were not readily available.

DRUGS

• Centralia police arrested three individuals for possession of drugs about 9:50 p.m. yesterday after a traffic stop at West Main Street and Tower Avenue. Booked into the Lewis County Jail for possession of methamphetamine were Thomas A. Castellane, 32; and Oscar A. Morales, 37, according to the Centralia Police Department. The driver, Jennifer L. Schroeder, 27, was booked for possession of pills without a prescription, according to police.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants and for driving on suspended license; responses for misdemeanor theft, graffiti, disputes, possible fraud, suspicious people, suspicious text message, attempted suicide, car seat questions, someone yelling obscenities about Dish Network … and more.

Read about Winlock school bus driver resigns in wake of crash …

May 14th, 2013

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The (Longview) Daily News reports the Winlock school bus driver involved in an accident last month while carrying a soccer team has quit rather than get fired.

Ronnie H. Withrow, 53, had been with the Winlock School District since September and was put on leave after the April 10 incident.

The bus blew through a stop sign at the end of the exit 63 freeway off ramp and traveled about 75 feet down a ravine. Withrow said the brakes didn’t work, but state patrol inspectors found no mechanical failure.

Read about it here

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

May 14th, 2013

Updated at 12:56 p.m.

MOVIE HEIST

• A deputy was called about 7:30 p.m. yesterday to an Onalaska-area home where someone broke in and stole 1,000 DVD movies, two large screen televisions and a Playstation. The 30-year-old victim at the 300 block of Burnt Ridge Road said it occurred sometime since Friday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The burglar got inside through an unlocked window, according to the sheriff’s office.

MOTORCYCLE MISSING

• Chehalis police took a report yesterday afternoon regarding a black dirt bike stolen from outside an apartment on the 600 block of Southeast Dobson Court. The Kawasaki 125 was taken sometime between midnight and 8 a.m., according to police.

PHONEY BILLS TO PAY COURT FINE

• An officer was called to Centralia Municipal Court yesterday afternoon after the discovery an individual had paid his fine using two fake $20 bills. The person, who may or may not have known the money was counterfeit, is being sought, according to the Centralia Police Department. The bills had the same serial number, according to police.

THEFT

• Centralia police took a report yesterday afternoon from the 1000 block of Eckerson Road regarding a burglary that occurred a week earlier. Further details were not readily available.

SUSPECTED VEHICLE PROWLER ARRESTED

• A 14-year-old Chehalis boy was arrested last night after a woman spotted three males trying to get into parked cars along Southeast Washington Avenue in Chehalis. She saw one boy manage to get inside one vehicle and rummage around just before 9 p.m., according to police. An officer tracked them down and booked the teen into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center for vehicle prowl, detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said.

DISPUTE LEADS TO ARREST

• A 21-year-old man was arrested on Friday night after he allegedly forced his girlfriend up the stairs to their apartment at the 200 block of Main Avenue in Morton. Witnesses said she was yelling for help, according to police. Aaron J. Jacobs was arrested for unlawful imprisonment and booked into the Lewis County Jail but was released yesterday without charges pending further investigation.

VANDALISM

• Chehalis police were called yesterday afternoon to a report of graffiti spray painted on a large portion of one wall of the restroom at Penny Playground on Southwest 13th Street.

NOT IN THE LOST AND FOUND

• A baggie containing a crystal substance found near the front door of a business on the 400 block of Second Street in Morton last week was turned over to police and logged into their property room. The material tested positive for methamphetamine, the Morton Police Department reported yesterday.

WRECK

• A 24-year-old Aberdeen woman was hospitalized after a two-vehicle wreck on state Route 508 about four miles west of Onalaska late yesterday afternoon. Both vehicles were totaled, according to the Washington State Patrol. Troopers called about 5:20 p.m. said Toni R. Emery was traveling eastbound in a Nissan Stanza when her car crossed the centerline striking the driver’s side  of a Honda Odyssey driven by Iris J. Chung, 44, of Chehalis. The Nissan ended up on its top after hitting one ditch and the Odyssey ran through the ditch on the opposite side of the road, according to the state patrol. Emery was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital, the patrol reported.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as shoplifting, domestic misdemeanor assault, minor collision, suspicious circumstances, loud children, a 17-year-old runaway from Centralia located in Sacramento, Calif. … and more.

News brief: “Do-over” for teen’s 90-plus-year drive-by shooting sentence moves to later this year

May 13th, 2013

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A re-sentencing set for this week has been postponed, for the former Centralia High School student whose virtual life sentence for a drive-by shooting committed at age 16 was tossed out by the state court of appeals.

Guadalupe Solis-Diaz Jr. will likely remain held in the Lewis County Jail until the hearing, according to Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Sara Beigh.

“We’re looking at scheduling it for late summer, or early fall, Beigh said today.

His attorney asked for more time, as he gets an expert, or experts, who may testify on the issues, Beigh said. She and Olympia attorney Robert Quillian notified a judge today they were in agreement about canceling Friday’s court date and moving the hearing farther into the future, Beigh said.

Solis-Diaz Jr. challenged his 2007 sentence of nearly 93 years for a drive-by shooting that summer in Centralia in which no one was injured. He was convicted by a jury of six counts of first-degree assault, one count of drive-by shooting and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm.

The appeals court last September identified numerous shortcomings by the defendant’s lawyer, related to matters that weren’t addressed in connection with Solis-Diaz Jr.’s juvenile status. Among them, attorney Michael Underwood failed to call family or or other members of the community to testify on his client’s behalf, a move which would have apprised the court that the teen’s emotional and mental maturity should have been considered.

Solis-Diaz was arrested in August 2007 after gunfire was sprayed along the east side of South Tower Avenue in Centralia, missing six bar patrons. Witnesses testified it was gang-related. He was tried as an adult.

Beigh said the prosecutor’s office has not yet made an absolute final decision about how long of a sentence it will push for. She said part of her argument will be based on what Quillian presents.

Beigh said she expected a status hearing will probably be scheduled for the end of June. The sentencing hearing itself is likely to be lengthy, she said.
•••

For background, read: “Appeals court gives Centralia teen a “do-over” on 90-plus-year drive-by shooting sentence” from Wednesday September 19, 2012, here

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

May 13th, 2013

Updated at 6:35 p.m.

SHERIFF’S OFFICE: BURGLARY TO STORE WAS INSIDE JOB

• Someone broke into the Ethel Market on U.S. Highway 12 about 4:45 a.m. on Sunday and made off with three cartons of cigarettes and $792 cash, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Surveillance video showed an individual used a key to get inside and questioning of all the employees with keys led to the arrest of Jerimy M. Trudeau, 30, of Centralia, according to the sheriff’s office. Trudeau reportedly told a deputy Rachel A. Deckert gave him the key and told him how to get in, the sheriff’s office reported. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said the two split the money and merchandise. Most of it was recovered, according to Brown. Both Trudeau and Deckert, 32, of Toledo, were arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail for burglary and theft, according to the sheriff’ office.

RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY

• Police were told someone went into an apartment on the 1500 block of Lewis Street in Centralia and stole medications and a rent check. The incident which was reported on Friday afternoon is under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A Chehalis resident returned home to their apartment on Southwest Third Avenue found the front door open and called police about 1:40 p.m. on Friday. Nothing initially appeared to be missing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• Police called to a home on Northeast Washington Avenue in Chehalis on Friday morning were told someone had taken a Trek bicycle from the basement. The value is about $300, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

THEFT

• A real estate agent contacted the sheriff’s office on Saturday afternoon after discovering someone had stolen the key lock box from a home on the 100 block of Riffe Hill Road near Morton.

• A Stihl weed eater and two small gas cans were stolen from a building at he cemetery on the 100 block of Mineral Creek Road sometime between Friday and Saturday.

• A wallet and medication were reported missing from a locker at the 600 block of Centralia College Boulevard on Friday morning.

• A 21-year-old Centralia resident was arrested yesterday morning after he reportedly showed up at his parents home on the 500 block of South Washington Avenue in Centralia asking for money even though police had told him before to stay away. Before Matthew D. Christiansen left, he reportedly went into the backyard and took a painting respirator, according to the Centralia Police Department. Officers found him and booked him for burglary.

DRUGS

• A 40-year-old Chehalis woman was arrested for possession of methamphetamine when she was picked up on an outstanding warrant overnight at the 300 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia. An officer got a tip about 12:25 a.m. that Tina A. Thode was at a bar and when he contacted her, found suspected meth in her purse, according to the Centralia Police Department. She was  booked into the Lewis County Jail.

• Centralia police arrested a 25-year-old Centralia woman for possession of methamphetamine after responding about 8:10 p.m. on Saturday to a domestic dispute at the 1200 block of Alder Street. Suspected methamphetamine was found in her purse, according to the Centralia Police Department. Kindra M. Powell was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

WRECKS

• A 57-year-old motorist was arrested for driving under the influence after he ran into a light post on the 500 block of North Gold Street in Centralia yesterday and knocked it off its base. Robin D. Hodgins of Centralia was cited and released, according to the Centralia Police Department. He suffered minor injuries and was going to be taken to the hospital by a sober driver, according to police.

• A 22-year-old Mossyrock man was arrested for driving under the influence after a one-vehicle collision yesterday afternoon at the 700 block of Tucker Road in Toledo, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s office. Zachary G. Little was also arrested for driving on a suspended license and being in possession of an illegal “butterfly” knife, according to the sheriff’s office. His vehicle had run into a ditch, according to the sheriff’s office.

• A 50-year-old motorist told police he didn’t stop because he didn’t want to be late for work when he reportedly struck a parked pickup truck on the 1600 block of South Market Boulevard in Chehalis and continued on with one tire missing late Friday night. The subject, Maximino C. Lopez-Ortiz of Centralia, was tracked down in a parking lot on State Street and issued a citation, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• An 84-year-old Yakima man was taken to Morton General Hospital to be checked for possible injuries after a single-vehicle wreck on Friday afternoon on U.S. Highway 12 just west of Packwood. Granville L. Parrish was traveling westbound when his pickup truck went off to the right entering a ditch and striking an embankment, according to the Washington State Patrol. A trooper called to the scene about 2:30 p.m. noted Parrish had been seat belted and blamed the crash on inattention.

• A 19-year-old Chehalis resident was arrested for driving under the influence and having an open container about 8:15 p.m. on Saturday at the 100 block of Northwest Quincy Place in Chehalis. A deputy subsequently learned Tyler M. McKee has caused major damage to an occupied SUV he struck a few minutes earlier at the 1800 block of Jackson Highway and was cited also for hit and run and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

• Two young women from New Jersey were hospitalized after a single-car collision yesterday evening on Interstate 5 in Chehalis. Troopers were called about 6:30 p.m. to the northbound lanes near the 13th Street interchange where a 2007 Ford Fusion had hit the jersey barrier, according to the Washington State Patrol. Mikaela N. Sessions, 19, and Victoria M. Abbate, 20, were transported to Providence Centralia Hospital with unspecified injuries, according to the state patrol. The investigating trooper reported Sessions began to make a lane change, found it wasn’t safe to do so and swerved to the left, then over corrected and lost control of her car. The wreck was blamed on inattention.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, suspended license, misdemeanor assault, misdemeanor theft; responses for minor collisions, dog bites, possibly stolen dog, alarm, disputes outside of taverns, suspicious circumstances; complaints about loud music, egging of a house and a vehicle … and more.

Sheriff’s office digs around Winlock property in connection with missing girl case

May 10th, 2013
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Detectives comb through debris at a property on Ferrier Road. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office

Updated

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Sheriff’s detectives yesterday finished up two days of searching two wells and digging through mounds of garbage at a property south of Winlock after getting tips the body of the missing Kayla Croft-Payne had been dumped there.

Nothing of interest was located except for a dog carcass, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said today.

The Lewis County girl vanished three years ago. She was 18 years old when a missing person report was made, days after her last posting on social network sites.

Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said the office had received several tips Croft-Payne had been killed and either buried or tossed down a well at property on the 1500 block of Ferrier Road.

She said the young woman used to hang out with the people who lived there.

The owners gave detectives permission to conduct the search, according to the sheriff’s office. Brown said she didn’t know if the property has changed hands.

The sheriff’s office says the place is known as “the farm” by those who frequent it.

Brown said detectives excavated a 20-foot deep well which had recently been filled with trash and debris. They used a pump to drain a 35-foot deep well.

A neighbor assisted with his backhoe and the detectives worked sixteen hours on Wednesday and Thursday, but turned up nothing, according to Brown.

According to Brown, deputies had received information in the past about the location which was vague, but two new tips in the past three weeks offered more detail.

Sheriff Steve Mansfield said in a prepared statement his people worked diligently and conducted a thorough search.

“This case has been troubling for our office and we still hope to find Kayla and bring closure to her family and friends,” Mansfield stated.

At a gathering the weekend before last at Penny Playground in Chehalis, family and some friends marked the three year anniversary since Croft-Payne disappeared.

Her aunt has connected with a Vancouver, Wash.-based organization that is investigating women and girls exploited by online modeling sites.

Croft-Payne wanted to be a model, and spoke of getting photographs taken for a portfolio.

Earlier this week, the sheriff’s office outlined the lengths it has gone to pursue that lead, noting they now know it was a different modeling site that Croft-Payne used than the one they checked.

Brown says the case has never been dormant, and detectives continue to follow all leads.

The sheriff’s office asks anyone who knows anything about the case to please call them at 360-748-9286 or contact Crime Stoppers of Lewis County, at 1-800-748-6422.

•••

For background, read “News brief: Model Mayhem website not involved in missing Lewis County girl’s case” from Tuesday May 7, 2013, here

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Detectives search a well at a property on Ferrier Road. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office

Centralia murder trial: Miller found guilty in B Street shooting death

May 10th, 2013
https://lewiscountysirens.com/?p=18853

Weston G. Miller hangs his head after hearing a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  Murder defendant Weston G. Miller blinked once and finally lowered his head after he was found guilty as charged today in Lewis County Superior Court.

A jury took a little more than three hours today to convict the 30-year-old Centralia resident of first-degree murder in the shooting death last year of a house guest, 43-year-old David Wayne Carson.

He’ll be back in court next Thursday morning when attorneys will set a sentencing date.

In the trial that began on Monday, jurors and spectators heard that Carson died from two gunshots to his chest, that it occurred at a fairly close range and that Miller claimed self defense.

It happened March 13, 2012 inside Miller’s house on B Street.

What they didn’t hear from witnesses or prosecutors was any explanation for why it happened.

Carson’s girlfriend Sara DeSalvo – has described how she and Carson were inside a bedroom that day and Miller kept coming to the door to tell them to stop arguing.

DeSalvo told jurors Miller knocked on the door and asked her boyfriend to come out for a minute, and as soon as the door closed she heard three shots. Miller told police during an interview he opened the door and Carson charged at him with a rusty kitchen knife so he shot him.

DeSalvo and Carson who were off and on homeless were staying with Miller for a few days in exchange for her doing some house cleaning.

The case has dragged on over a year in part because of questions about Miller’s competency and sanity.

One friend of Miller’s was sitting in the benches behind him when the verdict was read this afternoon.

Carson’s brother, two grown children and other family members have attended most of the trial.

DeSalvo, who said Carson proposed to her the night before he was killed, sat behind his family and cried when the verdict was read.

She said she still doesn’t know why Miller shot her boyfriend.

“I have no idea,” she said.

•••

For background, read “Centralia murder trial: In the defendant’s own words” from Friday May 10, 2013 at 10:13 a.m., here