Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 34-year-old Winlock woman accused of taking over bank accounts of a woman who was hospitalized and then died has pleaded guilty as charged.

Aurora S. Fulmer, who also uses the last name of Contreras, was arrested in June and after she was charged, was allowed release pending trial on a $10,000 unsecured bond.

Aurora S. Fulmer

She pleaded guilty on Wednesday in Lewis County Superior Court to one count of second-degree theft (more than $750 but less than $5,000) and three counts of second-degree identity theft.

The situation came to the attention of authorities early this year after the woman’s estranged daughter learned her mother had died and then found Fulmer at her mother’s home on the 100 block of Fircrest Road in Centralia.

Fulmer told investigators she had been the dead woman’s caregiver and that the woman told her she could have her money and her Centralia house, according to court documents.

She produced a power of attorney, with the mother’s partner listed as the agent, but it was crossed or whited out and replaced with Fulmer’s name.

She also left a copy of the will at the deceased woman’s attorney’s office, with her own name handwritten on the documents and initialed with the woman’s initials, but it not certified.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office initially suggested Fulmer wrongfully withdrew more than $43,000 from two of the woman’s accounts. A detective collected documents linking Fulmer to expenditures after the woman’s death such as an $84 piercing in Longview on Jan. 13, a $238 jewelry store purchase three days later and a K-Mart/Western Union money transfer of $540.

Her lawyer Shane O’Rourke said after her court hearing it wasn’t disputed she was the woman’s caregiver, but it was debated if the woman intended to leave her everything.

But that was irrelevant, O’Rourke said, because those things have to go through probate.

“You can’t just start spending it,” O’Rourke said. “She was wrong about that and she knows that now.”

Fulmer is facing a standard sentencing range of 12 to 14 months when she returns to court on Dec. 7.

Fulmer is in treatment for chemical dependency and has six children, according to O’Rourke. He is planning to get her screened to find if she is eligible for a parenting sentencing alternative, he said.
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For background, read “Daughter found stranger living in her dead mother’s Centralia home” from Monday June 26, 2017, here

Mark W. Powell heads back to sit down at the end of his hearing this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 46-year-old Centralia man arrested and jailed for second-degree assault on Monday while the victim was hospitalized on life support was ordered to be released today as no charges were filed.

Mark W. Powell was visiting with the 63-year-old man at the man’s home on the  3500 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia on Sunday night when a disagreement broke out, according to authorities. Powell allegedly punched Steven Nystrom in the face, Nystrom fell to the floor and Powell and his wife, or girlfriend, left.

Law enforcement got involved the following afternoon when they learned Nystrom was at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia with a broken nose, a bruised eye and potentially then a stroke as the result, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Powell was brought before a judge yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court where prosecutors asked he be held with no bail for the time being. When he was brought before a judge again this afternoon, Lewis County Chief Deputy Criminal Prosecutor Brad Meagher said he was running up against his 72-hour deadline to file charges.

“Given the information that I have on my desk right now, I’m uncomfortable charging Mr. Powell with a crime,” Meagher told the judge.

Meagher said that could change as his office gets further information. Judge James Lawler ordered Powell’s release, but cautioned him he could be subject to recall.

Nystrom was listed in critical condition as of about 11 a.m. today. Meagher said the latest update he had came after lunch today, and that Nystrom was still alive.

The declaration of probable cause filed yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court shares information from interviews a sheriff’s deputy conducted with friends, family, neighbors and Powell.

The victim’s roommate confirmed the victim brought home Powell and a woman on Sunday evening, but he felt they were trouble, so he stayed in his room.

The roommate recounted hearing a thud as though something had fallen and came out to find Nystrom on the floor. He said he couldn’t wake him up and figured he was drunk, so went back to bed.

When he got up on Monday morning, the roommate found Nystrom still on the floor, so he sought help from a neighbor who phoned 911.

The deputy tracked down Powell and his female companion with information from a taxi service; the driver told the deputy two males came to the taxi and the younger one got in.

The deputy found Powell and his wife, or girlfriend, – Kazi Hartman –  sleeping in a tent in a wooded area between train tracks and the 1000 block of North Gold Street.

Powell told the deputy that on Sunday evening, he was out drinking with Nystrom and Nystrom invited them to come to his house to hang out, they were there about three hours, everyone was drunk.

Powell said Nystrom told Hartman he could take better care of her than Powell could.

Powell told the deputy Nystrom put his hands around his neck and tried to choke him, so he punched him. Powell also told the deputy Nystrom got him in a headlock.

Powell told the deputy after he hit Nystrom, Nystrom fell to the floor and was still on the floor when he left. Hartman said she didn’t remember anything.

The information on Nystrom’s injuries first came on Monday to the sheriff’s office via contact with Nystrom’s step sister. She told the deputy he was in critical care at Providence St. Peter Hospital with the broken nose, bruised eye and that the neurologist said he’d suffered a massive stroke on the right side of his brain.

She thought he would likely not make it through the evening.
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For background, read “Centralia man in critical condition after assault” from Tuesday November 7, 2017, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  A 16-year-old Centralia girl reported to police last night she was grabbed and pulled into a car by a man who tried to pull her pants off but she fought back and ran home.

It happened near the Centralia sports complex near Pioneer Way and Mount Vista Road, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Police called just after 8 p.m. say the girl said she was being followed by a small dark Nissan-type vehicle and then was confronted by the man. She said she kicked him and escaped and fled to her residence which is a few blocks away, according to police.

Centralia Officer William Phipps said the description of the suspect is a white male in his mid to late 20s, wearing a black beanie and a dark hoodie.

His car was a late 1990s black Nissan, Phipps said.

Police are investigating.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  A 63-year-old Centralia man is on life support after a punch in the face by an acquaintance and the suspect is jailed, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said this morning the assault occurred on Sunday night at the 3500 block of Harrison Avenue but the victim was not discovered until 8 a.m. yesterday by his roommate.

The victim suffered a broken nose, a bruised eye and potentially then a stroke as the result, Breen said.

He was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital and then transferred to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia where he is currently in the critical care unit, Breen said.

Deputies began investigating yesterday afternoon and spoke with the suspect who allegedly admitted to striking his acquaintance.

Mark W. Powell, 46, described as a transient person who lives in the Centralia area, said the 63-year-old had made advances towards Powell’s wife, Breen said.

It happened sometime between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Sunday night, the 63-year-old fell to the floor and the couple left, Breen said. Powell was arrested yesterday for second-degree assault and booked into the Lewis County Jail.

He is tentatively scheduled to be brought before a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.

The sheriff’s office is asking anyone with information about the incident to contact them.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  A 68-year-old motorist who struck the side of a bridge was found on a creek bank roughly 20 feet below the bridge near Doty on Saturday night.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched just before 9 p.m. to a single-vehicle accident on Elk Creek Road near Dokter Road and determined the man had been eastbound before the collision, appeared to have exited the passenger side of his vehicle and then fallen to the ground below.

Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said the driver, Frank C. Wilson of Chehalis, called a relative who phoned 911. Firefighters and medics responded.

Lewis County Fire District 11 Chief Michael Krafczyk said the guard rail before the bridge did it job, preventing the truck from going over the embankment.

The 1996 GMC Sierra sustained major damage, according to the sheriff’s office.

Krafczyk said the patient couldn’t recall what happened. His family figured he couldn’t have been there more than a half hour, Krafczyk said. Wilson was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital.

A hospital spokesperson said Wilson was treated and has been released.

The sheriff’s office believes he was driving under the influence and are referring the case to prosecutors for charging, Breen said.

Anthony S. Foxworth Sr. and Mary G. Foxworth are jailed on the East Coast.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The couple who skipped out on their court hearing in which they were to be sentenced for the severe neglect of their teenage son were located yesterday in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Anthony S. Foxworth Sr., 45, and Mary G. Foxworth, 43, were taken into custody based on a no-bail warrant issued in Lewis County Superior Court.

The Foxworths pleaded guilty last month to first-degree criminal mistreatment and failed to appear in court on Wednesday afternoon.  They were facing a standard sentencing range of 51 months to 68 months in prison.

Centralia Police Department detective Patty Finch said she got word just before 12:15 p.m. yesterday the couple was in custody.

Officers with the Myrtle Beach Police Department contacted the Foxworths at a motel after spotting their green and gray Chevrolet Suburban in the parking lot. An incident report indicates police there had been contacted by investigators from Centralia who passed along information about the general location where they could be found.

They have been booked into jail and presumably will be extradited back to Lewis County.

The Foxworths had been out of custody since the beginning of the case on unsecured bonds.

When the case was first charged in December of last year, the court files for the two showed they resided on South Tower Avenue in Centralia, but Finch said this week police found their home vacant and that Mary Foxworth had been living in an apartment in Olympia.

Centralia police began investigating in January of last year, after couple took their 16-year-old son to the doctor, and he was hospitalized with severe malnutrition, weighing just 54 pounds.

Prosecutors alleged the boy had not seen a doctor since 2007 and had not been enrolled in school since 2011, yet had two siblings who appeared healthy and presented little concern.
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For background, read “Parents of mistreated Centralia teen are no shows for sentencing hearing” from Wednesday November 1, 2017, here

Anthony S. Foxworth Sr. and Mary G. Foxworth are wanted by Centralia police.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Centralia police detectives are asking for calls from anyone with information on the whereabouts of a couple who failed to show up in court yesterday when they were supposed to be sentenced for the severe neglect of one of their children.

Anthony S. Foxworth Sr., 45, and Mary G. Foxworth, 43, were convicted last month of first-degree criminal mistreatment in Lewis County Superior Court. They were facing a standard sentencing range of 51 months to 68 months in prison.

Centralia police detective Patty Finch said the couple was last seen at about 8 p.m. on Monday at a gas station in Gand Mound, with their green and silver 1998 Chevrolet Suburban. It has a license plate reading DP25339, according to police.

The Foxworths are also associated with a black 1999 Toyota 4Runner, license plate ASK0996.

When the case was first charged in December of last year, the court files for the two showed they resided on South Tower Avenue in Centralia.

Finch said this morning police checked the Centralia address and found the home was vacant.

Mary Foxworth was currently living in an apartment in Olympia and when Olympia police checked that location, she was not there, Finch said.

Their defense lawyers said yesterday they last heard from their clients on Monday.

The Foxworths had been out of custody since the beginning of the case on unsecured $10,000 bonds.

Anyone who might have information on where the Foxworths are is asked to phone detectives at the Centralia Police Department at 360-330-7614, or after hours call 911.
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For background, read “Parents of mistreated Centralia teen are no shows for sentencing hearing” from Wednesday November 1, 2017, here