Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County sheriff’s deputy charged with driving under the influence asked the trooper who stopped him if she could “work with him” on this, appealing to their shared profession, according to the investigation report.

Deputy Christopher P. Fulton, 31, of Napavine, was arrested early on Saturday morning on Interstate 5 following a traffic stop for speeding and then a conversation at the window of his truck about the alcohol on his breath.

Washington State Patrol Trooper Melody Krenelka said in her report it appeared the deputy was trying to persuade her to treat him preferentially. He was off duty.

“He repeatedly reminded me of his employment,” she wrote. “He expressed offense at the fact that I was calling him sir, reminded me that we ‘work together’ and that he knew me.”

Fulton, a patrol deputy who has worked for the sheriff’s office since April 2008, has been placed on paid administrative leave from his job while the incident is being investigated internally.

He pleaded not guilty on Monday and is free on his personal recognizance awaiting his next court date.

According to Trooper Krenelka, Fulton told her he had a few drinks at the casino but thought he was okay to drive. It was just before 1 a.m. when he passed by where she was parked with a radar gun at end of Centralia’s southbound Mellen Street onramp. She measured his speed at 73 mph in a 60 mph zone, according to the report.

She pulled his truck over about a mile down the freeway and he greeted her by asking if she knew him, telling her he was a Lewis County sheriff’s deputy, according to her report.

Krenelka wrote that his eyes were red and watery and when he declined to step outside for field sobriety tests or provide a breath sample, she called her sergeant at the detachment office to ask if she ought to wait until he arrived to arrest Fulton.

Sgt. Doug Pardue told her to proceed as usual, and Krenelka placed him under arrest for DUI, she wrote.

It was after Fulton was cuffed, read his rights and put in the back of her patrol car that he asked if she would still allow him to do the field tests, according to the report.

His performance was especially poor, given that he is trained in administering the tests, she wrote.

Fulton told her he had drank the last of two beers about an hour earlier before she conducted the preliminary breath test. The PBT reading was .187.

At the jail, his blood alcohol content results were .174 and .172.

The legal limit of an alcohol concentration for driving is .08.

Fulton said he didn’t care to call a lawyer and didn’t want to answer the interview questions in the DUI packet, according to the report.

Trooper Krenelka  issued him the citation with a court date, gave him the Department of Licensing paperwork and took him home.

Her report ended with the statement that Fulton was cooperative throughout her contact with him.

Driving under the influence is gross misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail and or a $5,000 fine.
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For background, read “Lewis County deputy pleads not guilty to intoxicated driving” from Tuesday January 7, 2014, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County sheriff’s deputy arrested for drunk driving over the weekend had a blood alcohol reading of just over double the legal limit.

Deputy Christopher P. Fulton, 31, of Napavine, was off duty and in his own truck when he was pulled over for speeding early Saturday morning on Interstate 5 in Centralia, according to authorities.

The trooper who stopped him noticed the obvious odor of intoxicants on his breath, along with red watery eyes, according to the Washington State Patrol.

“She asked, and he admitted he had a few drinks that night,” Washington State Patrol Sgt. Doug Pardue said.

Fulton, a patrol deputy who has worked for the sheriff’s office since April 2008, has been placed on administrative leave from his job while the incident is being investigated.

It’s the second time in just four months a local sheriff’s deputy has been arrested for driving under the influence.

In early September, drug detective Jeffrey S. Humphrey was arrested by a trooper in Chehalis after he drove through an area closed for a serious collision investigation.

Like Humphrey, Fulton’s vehicle was impounded and after he was processed for DUI, he was taken home instead of spending the night in jail.

Pardue said on a first time DUI, it’s an officer’s discretion as to whether the individual gets booked or not, considering factors such as if they think the person is likely to show up for court.

Most are arrested and then released, he said, referring to cases involving the state patrol in Lewis County.

“Probably less than half get booked,” Pardue said,

Sheriff Steve Mansfield issued a statement yesterday morning, saying he was extremely embarrassed and disappointed, vowing to provide a full accounting to the public once his internal investigation is completed.

“This community depends on our deputies to protect them, keep them from harm, and uphold the law,” Mansfield stated. “Impaired drivers are one of the biggest threats to people in our community.”

Fulton appeared before a judge yesterday in Lewis County District Court in Chehalis, where a plea of not guilty was entered for him.

He was accompanied by Centralia defense attorney Don Blair.

Judge Michael Roewe agreed with the deputy prosecutor’s recommendation he be released on his personal recognizance, without bond or bail payment.

The judge also ordered Fulton not to possess or consume any alcohol or non-prescribed controlled substances, or go into any  taverns or bars.

Few details of what occurred just before 1 a.m. Saturday near Centralia’s Mellen Street interchange are available, as no probable cause statement from the trooper was filed yesterday.

Blair told the judge he would agree with whatever it contained, and Deputy Prosecutor Luke Stanton said after the court hearing he hadn’t received the report.

Pardue, the supervising sergeant that night who came to the scene, said the incident was not out of the ordinary.

According to Pardue and the citation, Fulton was southbound on Interstate 5 when the trooper contacted him for speeding near milepost 81.

He was traveling alone in his 2012 Toyota Tacoma and Trooper Melody Krenelka became aware of the possibility he was impaired.

Fulton agreed to the field sobriety tests and portable breath test, Pardue said, and based on those he was taken to the Lewis County Jail where one of two BAC machines are available in the west end of the county.

His blood alcohol content result is listed as .172. The legal limit of an alcohol concentration is .08.

And then he was transported to his residence, Pardue said.

Deputy Prosecutor Stanton indicated a special deputy prosecutor from Thurston County would be handling the case. Next, a date for a pre-trial hearing will be scheduled, according to Stanton.

Driving under the influence is gross misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail and or a $5,000 fine in the criminal justice system.

Any sanctions or restrictions which could arise with the state Department of Licensing are separate. And for law enforcement officers, any disciplinary actions related to their job are the domain of their superiors and sometimes labor contracts.

In Humphrey’s case, Sheriff Mansfield within two months of the arrest announced he had imposed a two-week unpaid suspension and removed Humphrey from his position as a detective.

Humphrey was also subject to a last chance agreement that tied his continued employment directly to the conditions imposed by the court.
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For background, read “News brief: Lewis County deputy arrested for DUI” from Monday January 6, 2014, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Notice was forwarded today to the state Court of Appeals that Ricky A. Riffe is contesting everything about his conviction for the 1985 slaying of Ed and Minnie Maurin, the elderly couple found dead on a logging road outside Adna days after vanishing from their Ethel farmhouse.

Riffe, 55, was condemned to nearly 103 years in prison following his autumn trial in Lewis County Superior Court.

Ricky A. Riffe

The former Mossyrock man who was extradited from his longtime home in King Salmon, Alaska finding himself accused in the nearly 30-year-old case remains in the Lewis County Jail, but has otherwise virtually “checked out” since a jury in November found him guilty as charged of kidnapping, robbery and murder.

At his sentencing last month, the man who had been escorted to court each day previously in slacks and sweaters appeared unshaven and directed his attorney not to make any recommendation on his behalf. Riffe maintains he has nothing to apologize for regarding the case.

He declined to attend a proceeding yesterday in which a judge was asked to determine how much restitution he owed the victims’ families.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey signed an order presented by prosecutors that Riffe should repay the $8,500 he was convicted of taking from the Maurins, plus their funeral expenses of roughly $5,450. His lawyer’s signature was noted on the document as approved telephonically.

That amount is on top of the more than $13,000 in legal financial obligations the judge attached to Riffe’s judgement and sentence back in December, fees and other amounts such as $100 to collect his DNA, $1,000 for his jail stay and more than $8,600 prosecutors spent to bring in their numerous witnesses.

He was even assessed $192 for food and his oxygen along with the airfare for returning him to Lewis County in July 2012. He apparently suffers from COPD.

The grand total, according to court documents, is $27,355, plus 4 cents.

Riffe is expected to begin paying off the debt in February, at a rate of $25 per month.

Also yesterday, a date was set of Jan. 16 for a review of his pending trial for another new old case. Early last year, while he was in the jail waiting for his murder trial, prosecutors filed charges for child rape and molestation, related to incidents which were alleged and investigated in the mid-1980s regarding his then step-daughter.

That trial is currently scheduled for next month.

Riffe has denied any sexual contact, according to charging documents. Prosecutors and his defense attorney disagree as to whether the statute of limitations has passed.

It’s because of the pending trial, Riffe remains held in the Lewis County Jail, and has not yet been transferred to prison, according to Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer.

The 1985 deaths of the Maurins, who were in their early 80s, was described by Meyer as the most heinous crime he had seen in his career.

During a six-week trial, he and Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead presented information that indicated someone forced the couple from their home, made them drive to their bank in Chehalis to empty out an account and then out to Stearns Hill Road, where they were shot in the backs, each with one shotgun blast.

An eyewitness who didn’t come forward until 2003 testified that he briefly saw Ricky and John Gregory Riffe inside the Maurin’s Chrysler Newport with the couple on U.S. Highway 12 and that his life was subsequently threatened by the now-deceased younger brother. A former drug dealer who took the stand told of a time almost 28 years earlier when the Riffe brothers seemingly bragged they’d gotten away with it.

Riffe was convicted as the principal or an accomplice, in the case in which prosecutors at the end revealed they believed may have involved more perpetrators than just the two brothers.

Seattle-based defense attorney John Crowley argued there was no real evidence against his client, and it was fear and rumor that led to the accusations.

Crowley insisted that at least 10 individuals who were called to testify made wholesale changes from their original statements to police and that the jury heard knowingly perjured testimony in one instance.

On Monday, as the 30-day deadline approached, Crowley filed a notice of appeal, stating that his client appeals his conviction, his sentence, his trial, the judgement and all pre-trial matters relating to the case.
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For background, read “Riffe maintains innocence in face of sentence of more than a century for Maurin murders” from Tuesday December 3, 2013, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Who knew Lewis County was home to so many hoping to launch marijuana operations in a building they don’t own or lease?

Numerous entities have applied for licenses to grow and process cannabis, all at a soon-to-be vacant warehouse in the Chehalis Industrial Park.

It’s the old Circuit CIty building, a nearly 173,000-square-foot facility at 208 Maurin Road.

“I don’t believe the board’s aware of it,” Port of Chehalis interim commissioner Dave Muller said last week.

The Port’s board of commissioners probably wouldn’t take a position on such such an endeavor, but they focus mainly on dealing with those who want to purchase property – not rent –  in the area anyhow, Muller said.

The warehouse in question is owned by CC Properties LLC, doing business as Chehalis LLC based in Des Moines, Iowa.

It’s a big investment group, according to the real estate agent who for years has been trying to sell it, and has managed its leasing in the meantime.

Vanessa Herzog, of Kidder-Mathews, said it’s news to her that there are more than 16 applicants who have told the Washington State Liquor Control Board they are based at 208 Maurin Road.

“It makes me really angry, whoever it is that submitted that,” Herzog said.

Herzog said she wasn’t entirely surprised however, it’s happened to her at least once already elsewhere, when she learned someone claimed they were opening a marijuana business in a location she managed in Lacey.

Locally, applicants with names such as Emerald Joy and Evergreen Trees are among the thousands attempting to get approved to cultivate, process and sell recreational marijuana in Washington following the passage of last year’s Initiative 502.

A 30-day window for applying closed last month and the WSLCB says it’s expects to begin issuing licenses in the next month or so.

WSLCB spokesperson Mikhail Carpenter says they are aware of the practice, that some folks have submitted addresses for buildings they don’t actually have control over.

“The licensing process is going to sort a lot of that out,” he said yesterday.

Investigators will conduct site visits and contact landlords for verifications before any are approved, according to Carpenter.

Carpenter said he suspects some are people who are scrambling, afraid they would be left out of the process.

The former Circuit CIty warehouse remains for sale, now listed at $6.25 million, according to Herzog. Cardinal Glass’s lease is expiring soon, she said.

Nobody has approached her to buy or lease it for a marijuana operation, she said last week.

“I was happy nobody had called me, because I didn’t want to deal with it,” Herzog said.

She said she’s put together leases already for marijuana businesses elsewhere, but she’s not that enthusiastic about doing it again, as it’s complicated.

Herzog couldn’t say with certainty that no one has been talking directly with the actual owners.

But it’s unlikely an owner such as a large investment group would be eager to get involved, she said, citing issues with banking and investment rules given that marijuana is still illegal under federal law.

Dick Larman, executive director of the Lewis County Economic Development Council, said they have been besieged by people wanting to know about buying, renting or leasing buildings in the county for marijuana businesses.

But they too are not anxious to help promote the coming new industry.

Their stance is in line with the county government’s position, if someone can get the federal authorities to approve, then they would, he said.

He wasn’t aware of anyone moving in to the former Circuit City warehouse or anywhere in the industrial park, he said.

“I don’t know that anyone closed a deal,” Larman said. “It’s a fairly high bar.”

The list of those seeking licenses from the state published by the WSLCB contains business names, and locations but no phone numbers or contact information for the applicants.

The Chehalis Industrial Park, south of Chehalis and just east of Interstate 5, is situated in an urban growth area.

The city and the county have an agreement about which of the two are responsible for issuing building permits – that would be Chehalis, according to Dennis Osborn, the city’s community development director

As for business licenses, Osborn said he believes that would be up to the county.

“It’s a great question,” Osborn said yesterday.

It’s an issue the city will be taking up with legal counsel, he said.

Both have moratoriums currently in place regarding the marijuana industry.
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For background, read “Marijuana central could be Chehalis Industrial Park” from Tuesday December 24, 2013, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A former Tenino Elementary School teacher who was also a Boy Scout volunteer pleaded guilty today to possession of child pornography following a plea agreement with federal authorities in connection with his arrest earlier this year.

James D. Mobley was arrested when his home was searched last January by law enforcement who turned up 650 images and 45 videos he purchased from a Toronto-based web site billing itself as a provider of naturist films, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Mobley was described by federal authorities as a teacher who was also a private tutor and active as a volunteer with Boy Scouts.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, the 47-year-old will undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation and sexual deviancy treatment, register as a sex offender and be recommended for a four-year prison term, according to spokesperson Emily Langlie.

When he is sentenced on March 21 in U.S. District Court, the judge is free to impose up to the maximum of 20 years, however, according to Langlie.

Mobley is one of 348 people arrested worldwide, so far, as part of what was dubbed Project Spade, an investigation led by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service of the international business Azovfilms.com, according to a news release.

The investigation has resulted in 386 children rescued from direct abuse and exploitation, according to the news release.

When a search of Azovfilms was conducted in March 2011, hundreds of child pornography DVDs and business records were seized. Mobley’s multiple purchases were made between February 2009 and January 2011, according to Langlie.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Who knew Lewis County harbored so many entrepreneurial spirits ready to take a chance on the newly legalized cash crop of cannabis.

The list of those seeking licenses from the state to grow recreational marijuana locally ballooned to more than 40 on Friday, the end of a month-long period for applications.

The state-regulated industry based on the passage of last year’s Initiative 502 contains three types of licenses. One for producers who will cultivate the plants. Another for processors who will prepare it for resale with packaging and may create marijuana-infused products like so-called “edibles”. And a third for retailers.

In Lewis County, just four entities have made requests for a retail license to sell to the public.

But the list of applicants to become processors or producers is long.

Having all three licenses is not permitted under I-502, but a licensee may hold both a producer and a processor license simultaneously. A number of individuals appear to be attempting to go that direction, according to the cumulative list released today by the Washington State Liquor Control Board.

The WSLCB is the agency responsible for issuing the approvals.

While there is a cap on the number of retail licenses that will be given out – seven in Lewis County – the agency says there is no limit on the number of producer and processor licenses it will hand out. To those who are approved.

Information for applicants from the WSLCB says if one’s application is approved, they will receive an electronic billing statement requesting payment of the $1,000 fee.

Reasons for denial are many, for example, among them, failure to meet basic requirements, objection from the local authority, indicators of hidden ownership or based on a persons’s criminal history.

Last week, a spokesperson for the board said they expect it could take them 60 to 90 days to begin issuing the licenses, similar to the wait for liquor licenses.

Some locations on the list have applied for multiple licenses to produce or process. Leading them is 208 Maurin Road, in the Chehalis Industrial Park.

Sixteen entities including those with names such as Emerald Joy and Evergreen Trees are seeking to grow and process marijuana at that location. Some have identified “suites” in their addresses, other have not.

Who are they? Who is their landlord in the large warehouse? And what does the Port of Chehalis think of such neighbors? And, is that property subject to local business licensing from the city, or the county, is it part of an urban growth area with mixed rules?

None of those are questions that could be answered after noon time on Christmas Eve Day. More to come later.

Either way, business is not expected to get underway anytime soon.

Moratoriums are in place regarding such activity in the cities of Chehalis and in unincorporated areas of the county.

Even once they are lifted, Lewis County leaders have already decided to require applicants to provide approval from the U.S. Attorney General or the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

WSLCB spokesperson Mikhail Carpenter has said the agency is aware of the county’s rule, which “for all intents and purposes, is a ban.” And I-502 did not include a provision for cities and counties to opt out, he said.

The agency has asked the state attorney general to offer guidance on the issue, which will more than likely have to be settled in court, amongst interested parties, according to Carpenter.

Meanwhile, below are the applicants who show their address as 208 Maurin Road, Chehalis:

• Alfhild Venutures
• Emerald Joy
• Evergreen Trees LLC
• Gen 3 Growers LLC
• Gig Gardens
• Ground Up Cultivation,
• Holland’s Hope
• MNO
• NXTLVL
• Carrina’s Herbs of Grace, STE A
• Grandma’s Garden, LLC, STE B
• Thomas Tew Tolling, STE B
• Stortebeker Ventures, STE C
• Knivet Enterprises, STE D
• Granuaile Industries, STE E
• Sturdivant Ventures, STE F

To view the entire list of applicants statewide, click Washington State Liquor Control Board’s Frequently Requested Lists, scroll down and find “Marijuana License Applicants, updated Dec. 24, 2013”
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For further information, check Washington State Liquor Control Board’s Marijuana License Approval or Denial, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Firefighters spent the early morning hours extinguishing a fire that swept through a pair of barns in the Salkum-Onalaska area.

Crews were called about 3:20 a.m. to the 800 block of Gore Road where the two side-by-side buildings were found fully engulfed in flames, according to Lewis County Fire District 8.

Chief Duran McDaniel said it was the glow that woke the owners, which was also visible from his own residence down the road.

By the time he arrived, the roof of one of the structures was gone and only its posts left standing, McDaniel said.

An unspecified number of cattle apparently left the barn on their own, although the owner was still searching for one calf this morning, according to McDaniel.

Lost in the fire were two tractors, a fifth-wheel trailer and lots of hay, McDaniel said.

“They did manage to get several other vehicles away from the buildings,” he said.

District 8 was assisted by firefighters from Onalaska, Mossyrock and Napavine, he said.

A fire investigator is looking into the cause.