Lewis County Sirens.com

FRAUD ATTEMPT ON ELDERLY WOMAN

• Chehalis police were called yesterday afternoon by a woman who said her mother went to Western Union at Shop ‘N Kart to wire money to an impostor who had phoned and said he was her grandson being held at a police department until he could pay the repair bill following a rear end collision he caused. “Her children were able to catch it before the transaction, thank goodness,” detective Sgt. Gary WIlson said. Wilson called it a typical scam, which is widespread and nearly cost the woman who is in her 80s $1,885.

THEFT FROM FRONT PORCH

• Two old wooden bar stools were removed from a front porch at the 200 block of North Diamond Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police at mid-morning yesterday.

OTHER THEFT

• A tool box was reported stolen yesterday afternoon from the 500 block of South Silver Street in Centralia.

• Centralia police took a report about 12:40 a.m. today of a wallet stolen from a locker at a health club at the 2000 block of Borst Avenue.

VANDALISM

• Centralia police were called again yesterday morning to the 100 block of Virginia Drive regarding vehicle tire issues. This time a subject reported their tire was slashed.

NOT AN ASSAULT

• Chehalis police were called just before 7 p.m. yesterday to an alley off of Southwest Lewis Street where a witness thought they saw a male hit a female with a car, knocking her down. The female told an arriving officer he tried to drive away, she got her hand hung up in the car and fell in a mud puddle, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Nobody was arrested.

NO ROOM AT THE INN, OR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT

• Chehalis police were called about 3 o’clock this morning from a  registered sex offender at a downtown bus shelter who said he was kicked out of where he had been staying, was very cold and inquired if he could sleep at the police station. Detective Sgt. Gary WIlson said he didn’t know how this particular call turned out but said officers commonly attempt to find a shelter or organization which can assist in those cases.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor assault, misdemeanor theft; responses for disputes, burglar alarms; complaints of harassment; vehicle tire punctured, barking neighbor dogs … and more.

Updated at 6:59 p.m.

DRUG BUST AT CHEHALIS HOUSE

• A 36-year-old Chehalis man was arrested at his home yesterday morning following an ongoing investigation into drug sales. A half dozen law enforcement officers arrived about 9 a.m. with a search warrant at the single family residence on the 500 block of Southwest William Avenue, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Three individuals were detained but police arrested only Jonathan A. O’Connor, for multiple counts of delivery of methamphetamine, detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said. The case regarding his 36-year-old girlfriend is being referred to prosecutors for evaluation of a possible charge of conspiracy to deliver drugs, Wilson said. Officers found minimal amounts of suspected meth, but confiscated packaging materials and scales, which suggest drug dealing, according to police.

THEFT OF CRIME STOPPERS SIGN

• Someone stole the Crime Stoppers sign right off its posts in Morton. It was near the 400 block of Second Street and police are looking for tips as to where it is now. Chief Dan Mortensen asks anyone with information to call Lewis County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-748-6422.

GARAGE AND TOOL LOOTING

• A weed eater, a power saw and motorcycle gear were reported missing yesterday from a garage on the 200 block of North Oak Street in Centralia. The theft occurred sometime during the previous couple of days, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Police were called about 1:50 p.m. yesterday regarding tools missing from the front porch of a residence on the 800 block of Woodland Avenue in Centralia.

CAUGHT INSIDE VACANT HOME

• Centralia police arrested two women yesterday afternoon for allegedly breaking a window and entering an unoccupied home on the 200 block of West Magnolia Street. The 22-year-old and the 48-year-old were booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree burglary, but both were released without charges today pending further investigation.

BOOZE RUNS

• A 48-year-old woman was caught just before noon yesterday trying to steal a bottle of vodka from a store on the 500 block of South Tower Avenue in Centralia and then later around 8 p.m., a pair of males each shoplifted an 18-pack of beer from a business on the 1300 block of South Gold Street, according to the Centralia Police Department.

WRONG PEDAL PROBLEM

• Police officers were called about 7:25 p.m. yesterday to the 1200 block of Johnson Road in Centralia after a driver inadvertently stepped on the gas pedal while backing up and ended up hitting a vehicle, a travel trailer, a garage and two fences, according to the Centralia Police Department. The driver’s injuries were minor, according to police.

THOSE SNEAKY DEVILS

• Centralia police were called at 7 a.m. yesterday to the 100 block of Virginia Drive where a female said someone was deflating the tires on her car. They were called back to the same area just before 2 o’clock this morning where a male discovered someone had let the air out of one if his tires.

LEADERSHIP CHANGE AT RURAL CHEHALIS FIRE DISTRICT

• Longtime volunteer firefighter Jim Martin was recently sworn in as an interim commissioner for Lewis County Fire District 6. The 41-year-old rural Chehalis resident ran unsuccessfully for the position in 2011. Martin said he replaces Greg Pulver, who resigned his post to work outside the area. When he ran against now-Commissioner Kirk Johnston in 2011, the two men indicated neither would be very upset if the other won, as they shared many of the same views on how to run the department. Martin says he plans to run in November for a permanent six-year-term. He said he intends to continue as a volunteer firefighter-EMT. “My main focus is steering, to help steer, the district in the future, as one of three commissioners,” he said.

FLAMES LIGHT UP WINLOCK SKY

• A 30-foot long fifth wheel trailer burned last night south of Winlock and the cause is under investigation. Firefighters from four departments were called to the 9:15 p.m. call to a back field northwest of the intersection of state Route 505 and North Military Road, according to Lewis County Fire District 15. “It was fully involved when we got there,” District 15 Firefighter-EMT Patrick Jacobson said this morning. State Route 505 was shut down for about 30 minutes, because of the large number of fire trucks, he said. Nobody was living in the trailer and nobody was injured, Jacobson said. It didn’t seem suspicious, he said.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor assault; responses for burglar alarms, fender bender, found drug paraphernalia, noisy neighbors; complaints of disputes … and more.

Fifth wheel trailer burns in Winlock / Courtesy photo

Updated at 6:56 p.m.

SHOE BOX SCARE AT CENTRALIA CITY HALL

• Police shut down a portion of North Pearl Street in Centralia after a small box was discovered sitting on a sidewalk next to City Hall, specifically outside police department offices, at about 9 a.m. this morning. Bomb technicians from the Washington State Patrol were summoned, who X-rayed what Police Chief Bob Berg said he thought was a shoe box, finding it empty. Nobody was evacuated, but personnel moved to a different part of the building, Berg said. The chief said it was sitting atop an access grate. The street was reopened about 11:45 a.m.

FIREFIGHTERS EVACUATE CHEHALIS MOVIE THEATER

• Firefighters summoned last night about a smokey haze inside the movie theater in Chehalis searched the building and finally discovered the transformer that feeds a neon sign above the concession stand had shorted out. Employees suspected it was the popcorn machine and didn’t evacuate the building until after firefighters arrived, according to Chehalis Fire Department Capt. Rob Gebhart. The call to the Midway Cinemas on Northeast Hampe Way came about 8:30 p.m., he said. After a manager noticed the sign wasn’t illuminated, crews found the charred wiring, Gebhart said. Gebhart said workers asked movie-goers in each of the theaters to exit the building, and estimated some 50 customers waited outside for 10 to 15 minutes before they were allowed back in. Gebhart said it was odd in that the incident didn’t trip the circuit breaker, but an electrician was going to come out today.

REALLY? ON VOICE MAIL?

• A 27-year-old Winlock man was jailed on Friday after he allegedly left voice messages for his girlfriend of five years following their break up saying he would kill her and dispose of her body where it wouldn’t be found. Ross C. Lawrence was contacted and arrested for felony harassment, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

BUSTING IN TO THE MASONIC TEMPLE

• Chehalis police were called just after 7 a.m. yesterday when someone observed a subject break through the front door window of the Masonic temple on the 100 block of West Main Street. Arriving officers searched the building and found a trail of blood – presumably from a glass cut – leading out the back door, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Nothing was taken, detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said.

SNEAKING INTO GIRL’S HOUSE

• Police were called about 7 p.m. on Saturday when someone saw a subject crawl through an upstairs window at a neighbor’s home on the 600 block of Southwest Pacific Avenue in Chehalis. Officers caught a 15-year-old boy coming back out the window, police said. It was his former girlfriend’s house, nobody was home at the time and the teenager was booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center for burglary. Detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said he didn’t know what the teen was doing there.

GLENOMA BURGLARY

• A deputy was called about 1 p.m. on Saturday to the 7500 block of U.S. Highway 12 in Glenoma where someone had gone into a mostly empty residence and stole a blanket, pillows, a fishing vest, jumper cables and a Garth Brooks CD collection, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

COINS, CURRENCY MISSING FROM CENTRALIA HOME

• A 45-year-old Centralia man called the sheriff’s office to his home on the 1500 block of North Pearl Street in Centralia on Friday afternoon after discovering someone had got into his gun safe and stolen numerous collectible currency and coins, including a Kennedy half dollar. No forced entry was found into the residence or the safe, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The loss is estimated at $500.

DRUGS

• A 31-year-old Centralia man was arrested in Centralia on Friday in connection with an ongoing Chehalis Police Department investigation into alleged drug dealing. Joseph L. Nickols was booked into the Lewis County jail for delivery of drugs and also possession of a controlled substance because he had a patch of Fentanyl – a potent pain medication –  without a prescription, detective Sgt. Gary WIlson said.

ALLEGED VANDALS CAPTURED

• Centralia police arrested three teenage boys after they were caught spray painting graffiti on a business at the 1900 block of North Pearl Street in Centralia yesterday afternoon. Further details were not readily available.

GRILL TAMPERING

• Centralia police were called about 3:50 a.m. today to the 500 block of North Pearl Street where an unknown subject apparently had entered a fenced area, turned on the propane to someone’s gas grill and then left.

WRECK

• A 17-year-old Mossyrock girl escaped with minor injuries when  she lost control of her car on the 400 block of Salmon Creek Road, traveled down an embankment, impacted a tree and landed on its top on Friday night, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The girl said it happened about 9 p.m. and she walked home, according to the sheriff’s office. Her Ford Focus was totaled, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. She was cited for wheels off the roadway and will likely be in trouble for driving with a suspended license, the sheriff’s office reported.

FROM THE COURTHOUSE

• The man who found himself shot when he confronted a resident inside an unlocked rural Chehalis home one night in February has pleaded guilty and apologized for what he did. Brian L. Creed, 51, was high on methamphetamine when he encountered an armed and just-awakened young man inside the manufactured home on the 400 block of Highway 603 west of Chehalis, according to authorities. Court documents say 24-year-old Joshua Norman ordered Creed out, but Creed charged him, Norman fired his 40 caliber handgun and then Creed tackled Norman on February 10. Norman held him at gunpoint until deputies arrived. Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke said Norman and his wife didn’t attend Friday’s court hearing in Lewis County Superior Court, but Creed read aloud a statement in which he told them and the court he was sorry. He pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary, although O’Rourke indicated it still wasn’t exactly clear what Creed’s intentions were for entering a stranger’s home. Creed, who was shot in the abdomen and hospitalized for about 10 days, was sentenced to just shy of three years in prison. He was also sentenced to 90 days for a separate second-degree trespass. He has two past convictions for felony theft and two more for misdemeanor theft.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants; reports of shoplifting; responses for burglar alarms, suspicious circumstances, a high school student who was “verbal” to staff at the school; complaints of loud neighbors, a woman’s child’s grandparents harassing her on Facebook … and more.