Lewis County Sirens.com

Randall D. Mauel, right, looks to his lawyer Don Blair during his sentencing hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – When police found a backpack containing a one-gallon freezer bag nearly filled with chards of meth and more than $11,000 worth of heroin inside a south Chehalis home in December, they didn’t have the authority to enter the house.

So say lawyers in the case of the Mauel brothers, two men arrested and charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, as well as unlawful use of a building for drug purposes.

“There was an issue with the search warrant affidavit, which would have been extremely difficult for the state to overcome,” Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello said yesterday.

Randall D. Mauel, 43, was in Lewis County Superior Court with his attorney, following a plea agreement which would send him to prison for a year and a day.

The raid that took place on Dec. 9 at the 2500 block of Jackson Highway came out of fast-moving investigation by the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force. The Lewis County Regional Crime Task Force and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team assisted, contributing about half of the 14 law enforcement officers that swarmed the residence.

Centralia defense attorney Don Blair told the judge a problem with the affidavit was an understatement.

Mauel pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon to two counts of drug possession, admitting he had drugs.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey agreed with the recommended time, and read off a list of 16 previous felony convictions, mostly involving drugs, on the defendant’s record.

The judge was told he will be also doing two years for a Thurston County conviction that followed his March arrest in Tenino when detectives reportedly found nearly $10,000 cash in his wallet, along with a little more than an ounce of methamphetamine and a small amount of heroin.

Masiello said the case of  Ryan G. Mauel, the younger brother was resolved a few months ago, with a few months of electronic home monitoring, if he recalled correctly.

The sheriff’s office describes them both as Chehalis residents. When the brothers were charged in December, the judge was told the house belonged to their parents.

“We’re trying to get the best outcome we could possibly get,” Masiello said after the hearing.

Without the drugs available as evidence, the case essentially goes away, he said.

He explained the issue of the search warrant this way: When using an informant, they needed to establish the informant saw what they saw and that the informant was credible, he said.

When the Thurston County drug task force officer made a recorded request by phone to a judge, the officer didn’t really address the veracity part, other than saying, we’ve used this person before, he said.
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For background, read “Two charged with drug dealing, two set free after Chehalis area raid” from Wednesday December 11, 2013, here

Amanda Allen is covered in gauze at Harborview Medical Center’s burn unit on Saturday.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Amanda Allen woke up in her own bed yesterday having a panic attack from a nightmare, slapping at her chest, trying to put the flames out.

The 24-year-old Onalaska woman was scared, but not as frightened as she was on Friday night at the fireworks show near Oakville when an errant mortar struck her in the mouth and shot down inside her zipped up jacket.

It felt like she’d been hit with a baseball, she said.

“Out of nowhere, I get hit in the face,” Allen said. “I see bright lights, I felt like I was on fire; I was on fire.”

Allen recalls trying to rip off her burning coat, and three tribal police appearing, attempting to help remove her flaming clothing.

Much of what followed is a blur, she said.

“I was in shock, I couldn’t believe it happened, she said.

Amanda Allen, undated photo

The Onalaska resident said she was at a friend’s place in Rochester on Friday, and they decided to go watch the Fourth of July show at the Chehalis reservation, something she’d never done before.

They spent time enjoying the concessions with hot dogs and ice cream and watching the numerous fireworks before settling down in the grass near the tribal center for the big event that began after dark.

“There were people all around us, little children, old people,” she said. “There were fountains and ground hogs, and then the people to the right of us were doing bigger ones in the road.”

Her friend Skylar Christoffer said he saw a cake-type device fall over, and it was pointed toward the four of them and the 5-year-old boy sitting next to him, she said.

“He grabbed Ryan and threw him into Travis’s arms,” he said. “Then he was helping me.”

Firefighters were called about 10:45 p.m. to the incident on Neiderman Road, they called for LifeFlight out of Longview and set up a helicopter landing zone, according to Grays Harbor County Fire District 1 Chief Kevin Witt.

It was one of two fireworks-related injuries they responded to there that night, Witt said.

Allen spent the next two days in the burn unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, being treated for burns from her neck down almost to her belly button, she said. Her lip was split open.

She’s feeling fortunate she still has her teeth and was so relieved to discover her nipple was not burned off, she said.

“They said they don’t think my lip will scar too badly,” she said. “They’re not sure about my chest, neck, chin and fingers, because scarring can up to a year to heal,” he said.

It hurts pretty bad, she said yesterday.

She’s home and won’t be able to work; she’s a caregiver for her 20-year-old bedridden brother, she said. She expects to spend time resting, watching movies, and trying to heal.

“One thing I’m worried about, I don’t want to look like Freddy Krueger, I don’t want people to stare at me,” Allen said. “I don’t want to be a sideshow.”

She’s grateful to the first responders, who tried to be gentle, but not very happy with whoever was setting off big fireworks so close to a crowd.

“My mom called the tribal police, they said they got so many stories, they don’t know,” Allen said. “I don’t want to sue them, I don’t want to press charges. I just want them to know I’m pretty messed up, physically and mentally.”

The mortar burns extend from Amanda Allen’s lip and neck to almost her belly button.

Searchers look in the river where the 17-year-old boy from Port Orchard was last seen. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office says a 17-year-old boy taking photos with friends slipped and fell into the Ohanapecosh River and was swept away.

It happened about 9:30 a.m. on Friday, near the Cedar Grove Campground off state Route 123 just south of the entrance to Mount Rainier National Park, according to the sheriff’s office.

“He was swept down river while his friends chased him along the river bank,” Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown stated in a news release. “The friends tried to reach out to him with a stick while he was caught in an eddy but he was unable to reach it and was swept further downstream into a whirlpool near a fast moving chute.”

Searchers with the sheriff’s swift water rescue team and rangers from the national park searched for the boy with no success until about 3 p.m. on Friday and then again on Saturday and yesterday, according to Brown.

He is from Port Orchard.

Cascade Dogs Search and Rescue scoured the banks as well, she said.

The sherif’s office indicates the river levels will be monitored and the area checked in hopes of locating him.

The Ohanapecosh is s cold and fast moving river.

Brown said later in the day, deputies were notified of a presumed drowning of an 18 year old Tacoma man at Alder Lake near the end of Pleasant Valley Road in Mineral.

She said that part of Alder Lake is in Pierce County and the incident was handled by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office. His body was located yesterday, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office which assisted.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Divers were expected back at Alder Lake today to search for  17-year-old boy who slipped below the surface while swimming with friends.

Mineral Fire Chief Kevin Mounce said his department was dispatched on Friday afternoon for a possible drowning at the end of Pleasant Valley Road and when they arrived deputies from Pierce County already had a boat in the water.

Mounce said there were a lot of people in the area as there seemed to be a wedding or two taking place. Deputies from Lewis County and firefighters from Bald Hills responded as well, he said.

It was at an old campground, he said.

“Alder Lake is cold, murky, muddy and not a very good place to swim,” he said.

A deputy told Mounce his crew wasn’t needed, so they left, and he didn’t have further information, Mounce said.

The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office tweeted last night that divers from its office and Pierce County would be returning to the lake today.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Green Hill School inmate escaped yesterday while on a field trip for his graduation ceremony in Seattle.

The 18-year-old was one of three students who traveled to the West Seattle campus of South Seattle Community College following the successful completion of a 14-week vocational program, according to a spokesperson from the state Department of Social and Health Services.

Mindy Chambers said it was about 10 a.m., before the event began, and he was on the phone purportedly with his mother, trying to give her directions to get there.

“They were standing outside and a gray Volvo pulled up,” Chambers said. “He got in the backseat, laid down and it sped off.”

Staff called 911 immediately to report the escape, she said.

Green Hill School in Chehalis is a medium and maximum secure facility for older juvenile boys incarcerated for felonies and operated by the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration, under the state Department of Social and Health Services.

Chambers wouldn’t disclose his name, hometown or the crime he was locked up for citing policies for the juvenile institution.

A warrant for his arrest for escape has been issued, she said.

The young man had already received his certificate of completion from the program – called the Job Readiness to Employment Project – and was set to be released from Green Hill sometime between August and November, according to Chambers. The length of time he’d been incarcerated wasn’t immediately available.

The trio were accompanied by two security officers and a program manager.

He was so close to becoming employed, and now things have changed, she said.

“Our next step would have been to place him with an employer,” Chambers said. “Instead he made the decision he did, and now he will be charged as an adult.”

Detectives from outside police agencies examine items at the scene in the Anchor Bank parking lot on Sunday.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The 43-year-old Centralia man shot to death by a police officer following a shoplifting incident has been identified as Paul M. Edmundson, an individual who lived at the Pepper Tree Motel and RV Park.

Edmundson died at the scene on Sunday morning, in a bank parking lot just south of the Chevron service station on the corner of South Tower Avenue and East Cherry Street.

Police say he was combative as Officer Ruben Ramirez and his K-9 partner tried to detain him, and he pulled a handgun from his pocket.

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod reports Edmundson died of massive internal bleeding from a bullet wound to his chest.

It’s the second time this year a Centralia officer has shot and killed someone. In February, an officer fired eight shots at a 48-year-old Westport man staying at the Lakeview Inn after a night time encounter in a nearby residential neighborhood when the man refused to drop a knife.

That use of deadly force was found by the prosecutor to be justified.

The Centralia Police Department this morning revealed Edmundson was wanted in connection with an assault in which he allegedly shoved some type of sharp object though the eyelid of a neighbor during a disagreement on Friday at the Pepper Tree Motel. Responding officers to the 1200 block of Alder Street didn’t know what the object was and still don’t, according to Officer John Panco.

Panco said Edmundson thought his 50-year-old neighbor owed him a favor because he’d bought him some beer a few days earlier, and he wanted him to drive him around town instead of leaving that day.

The victim’s eye was not permanently damaged, according to Panco.

Panco said he didn’t know if Officer Ramirez knew that’s the man he’d come across when responding to the 10 a.m. call on Sunday about a stolen burrito, but just wanted to get the information out there.

“He was the one who took the report of the assault, so whether he recognized him or not, I do not know,” Panco said. “That will come out in the investigation.”

The details of what preceded the Sunday morning shooting in Anchor Bank’s parking lot are limited, as Centralia police arrived as backup after a struggle ensued between Ramirez and Edmundson but officers instead worked to preserve the scene of the shooting and turned the entire case over to a group of detectives from outside police agencies.

Panco said this morning a 44-year-old woman, Michele Milligan, who was present – and said to be screaming at Ramirez as the two men fought – was taken into custody for a warrant.

A gas station clerk from across the street who called 911 said she watched for what seemed like 10 minutes of the officer trying to handcuff the man.

Nicole Escalante described seeing the man on the ground, and repeatedly trying to get up, and Ramirez telling him to stay down and at one point punching him.

Escalante said she stood on the sidewalk in front of her convenience store talking with 911 and saw the man reach for something, and saw Ramirez draw his weapon and fire one shot.

Ramirez, a 15-year veteran of the police department and a member of its SWAT team, was placed on paid leave. Police Chief Bob Berg says the Region Three Critical Incident Investigation Team is expected to complete its work within the next three weeks.

An internal use-of-force review board will convene after that, according to Berg.
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For background, read “Stolen burrito leads to fatal shooting in Centralia” from Sunday June 29, 2014, here