Lewis County Sirens.com

Mary G. Foxworth keeps her head down as she leaves the defense table in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Centralia mother of boy who at 16 years old was so malnourished he weighed less than 60 pounds pleaded guilty yesterday to first-degree criminal mistreatment.

Her husband made the same plea last week.

Mary G. Foxworth, 43, admitted to a judge in Lewis County Superior Court she failed to provide basic necessities of life, recklessly causing great bodily harm.

Foxworth, seated beside her lawyer Jacob Clark, answered the judge’s questions so quietly in the nearly empty courtroom, she could barely be heard.

Judge Joely O’Rourke queried her, to make sure she was capable of understanding the proceedings. The last grade Foxworth completed in school was the ninth grade, she said.

The couple entered into deals with prosecutors to plead guilty as charged and avoid a trial, in which if so-called aggravating circumstances were added and they were convicted, a judge would be free to sentence them to up to 10 years in prison.

The standard sentencing range they will face at sentencing is 51 months to 68 months of incarceration.

The charges were filed at the end of last year, after an investigation that began almost a year earlier. The couple has not been held in jail.

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.

The situation came to light when the Foxworths took their son to the doctor in January of 2016, saying he had not been eating or drinking for about three weeks and had abdominal pain. Medical providers described him as skin and bones, whiter than a sheet of paper and he was hospitalized, suffering from severe malnutrition, severe constipation and anemia, according to Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Melissa Bohm.

Bohm alleged further he weighed just 54 pounds, was missing patches of hair, could not stand on his own, was wearing pull-ups and needed 24 of his teeth treated when he was seen by a dentist.

Charging documents don’t indicate when he he was put in foster care, but state that at some point before December 2016, he had grown more than three inches and his weight increased to 93 pounds.

No further explanation has been shared by authorities, except Mary Foxworth reportedly said she didn’t know when her son began to lose weight because she was too wrapped up in her own depression.

She was accompanied in court yesterday by two women, who left with her after the short hearing.

Anthony S. Foxworth Sr., 45, and his wife are scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 1. in Lewis County Superior Court.
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For background, read “‘Skin and bones’: Parents charged with severe neglect of teen” from Thursday January 5, 2017, here

Danny Wing finishes up with his lawyer after hearing in Lewis County Superior Court

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  Danny A. Wing’s lawyer wanted a year for his client to decide if he ought to withdraw his guilty plea, but a Lewis County Superior Court judge yesterday said no.

Wing was convicted and then sentenced two years ago following a complex plea deal, for his role in the abuse, neglect and death of a 3-year-old boy who was temporarily part of his family’s household.

Jasper Henderling-Warner died in October 2014.

Jasper Henderling-Warner

Wing had hoped to get a prison sentence of 15 or 16 years, but prosecutors argued he didn’t hold up his end of the deal and asked he be locked up for 55 years. A judge imposed a sentence of almost 35 years.

But then earlier this year, an appeals court found Wing’s plea was premised on an incorrect offender score and reversed the convictions, allowing Wing to withdraw the plea. The convictions are for first-degree manslaughter and third-degree child assault.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer has said if Wing withdrew his plea, prosecutors would take the case to trial. The original charge included homicide by abuse as an alternative.

Yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court, Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sara Beigh told the judge she could not find a good reason for further delay.

“The next step her is Mr. Wing is going to decide if he’s going to withdraw his guilty plea,” Beigh said. “Also, we’re dealing with crime victims here, and their rights.”

Judge Andrew Toynbee agreed with Beigh, and said he felt 30 days would be sufficient.

The judge set a deadline for 5 p.m. on Nov. 13 for Wing, through his attorney, to file in writing his withdrawal of his plea. Toynbee said failure to do so would mean his previous guilty plea remains in effect.

A hearing for review was put on the court calendar for Nov. 16.

Wing, now 29, is represented by Vancouver attorney Sean Downs.

His wife Brenda A. Wing got the same sentence as her husband and has won the same opportunity to withdraw her pleas.

The Vancouver-area family had been living in Vader about two weeks when the Wings called 911 on Oct. 5, 2014 to say the toddler was unconscious and not breathing. Jasper’s 21-year-old mother had given the couple temporary custody while she was homeless and looked for work out of state. Jasper died at Providence Centralia Hospital.

The autopsy found abrasions, bruises, facial trauma and healing fractures and labeled the cause of death as chronic battered child syndrome. Jasper was suffering from skin infections that were found to be secondary to his cause of death.

Danny Wing’s formal statement said he recklessly Jasper’s death by failing to get medical care for him.
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For background, read “Jasper: Toddler death case in limbo as defendant contemplates options” from Tuesday October 10, 2017, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – An explosion that blew out the sides of a travel trailer in north Centralia today sent two people to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Firefighters were called to a mobile home park along the 3300 block of Harrison Avenue about 12:30 p.m. and found the trailer had been occupied by a man and a woman in their late 40s to 50s and their dog.

The woman’s suffered first- and second-degree burns from her waist to her head, according to Riverside Fire Authority. She was airlifted to Harborview, according to Fire Capt. Scott Weinert.

The man was transported by ground to Providence Centralia Hospital in stable but serious condition, but subsequently flown to Seattle as well, according to Weinert.

Weinert indicated the force of the event caused significant damage to the 25-foot travel trailer.

The cause of the explosion is under investigation, although it was initially described as a propane-fueled explosion by RFA on Twitter

The couple’s dog was taken to a local veterinarian by a private party, according to the fire department.

Updated at 4:42 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  Law enforcement searching a huge barn in Vader converted into separate growing rooms found a 55-year-old man inside a makeshift bedroom and seized more than 600 marijuana plants along with approximately 50 pounds of “processed bud.”

Jing Ming Gao, 55, from Brooklyn, New York, was arrested, according to drug detectives.

The search warrant operation took place on the 1900 block of state Route 506 west of Vader on Wednesday, according to a press release issued by Lewis County’s Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team.

The bust is part of an ongoing investigation that began in December involving illegal large-scale indoor marijuana growing operations throughout Lewis County. Search warrants have been served at five different locations and hundreds of pounds of marijuana and about 6,000 plants have been confiscated, according to JNET.

“Aiding in these investigations has been the communication and networking with law enforcement agencies from New York and the East Coast,” JNET stated.

The task force previously said it believed all the marijuana from this investigation is shipped to the East Coast.

Detectives found the 4,200 square-foot barn in Vader had been converted into several separate rooms for growing the plants.

The almost nine-acre property was sold in August of last year for $80,000 to an individual with an address in Pennsylvania, according to Lewis County parcel records.

Gao was released from the Lewis County Jail yesterday as no criminal charges were filed. While his age was given as 55, JNET’s press release shows a birthdate for Gao which would make him 62 years old.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said today they didn’t have any proof Gao was involved in the actual growing of the plants.

JNET states that additional suspects have been identified in their investigation and warrants will be requested for their arrests.

It was just two weeks earlier when JNET found more than 2,000 marijuana plants growing at two rural Chehalis properties – on Centralia-Alpha Road and Pattee Road – and arrested two men.

The drug detectives ask that anyone who has information that would assist during the ongoing investigation to please contact them at 360-330-7680, or 360-748-9286 or Crime Stoppers South Sound at www.P3TIPS.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Authorities have released the names of the two men fatally shot in a murder, suicide in Winlock but still have offered no explanation for why it might have occurred.

Jeffry C. Wachter, age 59, of Malone, allegedly used a handgun to shoot his 56-year-old brother multiple times and then turned the gun on himself.

Paul Wachter, 56, of Winlock, died of gunshot wounds to his torso, head and left arm, according to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.

It happened on Sunday evening at property at the 600 block of Tennessee Road north of town.

Deputies and aid had been at the address that afternoon, rescuing the men’s older sister who had fallen into a well. The older brother had been asked to leave because he was arguing with his younger brother and being disruptive, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has said.

She was finally hoisted to the surface just before 5:30 p.m. and taken to the hospital; and crews had departed when Jeffry Wachter returned with a gun, according to the sheriff’s office. Law enforcement was notified about 6:30 p.m. that he’d shot his brother and then himself.

The Lewis County Coroner’s Office issued a press release today revealing the names and stating the coroner confirmed both men died of gunshot wounds and labeled the older brother’s death as suicide and the younger brother’s as homicide.
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For background, read “Two dead after family dispute in Winlock” from Monday October 9, 2017, here

Anthony Foxworth Sr. and his attorney go before a judge today in Lewis County Superior Court

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Centralia parents of a boy who at 16 years old was so malnourished he weighed less than 60 pounds, couldn’t stand on his own and was missing patches of hair are pleading guilty to criminal charges after a deal was struck with prosecutors, rather than risk going to trial.

Anthony Foxworth Sr., 45, pleaded guilty today in Lewis County Superior Court as charged, to one count of first-degree criminal mistreatment. His wife is scheduled to plead guilty next week, based on the same agreement, according to her lawyer.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer today told the judge he would be recommending a prison term of four years and three months.

The charges were filed at the end of last year, after an investigation that began almost a year earlier. The couple has not been held in jail.

The Centralia Police Department got involved after the Foxworth’s took their son to the doctor because he had abdominal pain, and his condition was such that he was put in Mary Bridge Childrens’ Hospital in Tacoma. Allegations in charging documents included that the teen had not been enrolled in school since 2011 and had not seen a doctor since 2007.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Melissa Bohm wrote in charging documents he had a younger brother and sister who were in school, appeared healthy and presented little concern.

But he was wearing pull-ups and his skeletal age was determined to be that of a 13-year-old child, Bohm wrote. The boy was put in foster care where he began to gain weight and grow taller.

No explanation has been shared by authorities, except, according to Bohm, Mary Foxworth said she thought he was starving himself because he was depressed; and admitted she didn’t know when he began to lose weight because she was too wrapped up in her own depression.

Her attorney Jacob Clark today said, outside the hearing, the risks of going to trial were too great, because if found guilty a judge could impose a much longer sentence.

“You go from a standard (sentencing) range of 51 to 68 months, all the way up to (potentially) 10 years,” Clark said.

Anthony Foxworth’s lawyer Chris Baum spoke of the same issue regarding his client in the proceeding this afternoon before Judge Joely O’Rourke.

“I told him he doesn’t have to plead, if you don’t want to we could go to trial,” Baum said. “But if we go to trial, the state’s made it clear, they’re going to put a bunch of aggravators on it.”

Today’s hearing didn’t last more than five minutes. Judge O’Rourke accepted the plea and found Foxworth Sr. guilty.

Baum outside the courtroom said part of the plea agreement is prosecutors will recommend the low end of the standard sentencing range.

“It’s kind of a sad situation all the way around,” Baum said. “He didn’t intend for this to happen and I know he feels bad.”

The legal standard for the offense is recklessness, he said, not intent.

The couple are both set to be sentenced on Nov. 1.
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For background, read “‘Skin and bones’: Parents charged with severe neglect of teen” from Thursday January 5, 2017, here

Missing, Hilda Wenz

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Chehalis police are asking residents to look around their yards and inside outbuildings this morning as they search for an elderly woman who has not been seen since midnight.

Hilda Wenz, 92, was last seen at the assisted living facility where she resides on the 400 block of Northwest Quincy Place in Chehalis.

“When they checked on her this morning at approximately 8 a.m., they were unable to locate her,” Chehalis Police Department spokesperson Linda Bailey stated in a press release.

Wenz has no mobility issues for her age and can walk unassisted, according to police. Bailey said Wenz is unfamiliar with the area.

She is about 4-foot 10-inches tall, weighs about 135 pounds and is described as a white female with white hair. It is unknown what clothing she may have been wearing.

A Silver Alert has been issued.

Chehalis West Assisted Living Center is located in a neighborhood just west of downtown and east of Interstate 5, on Quincy at Northwest Gertrude Street. Its sits adjacent to a set of railroad tracks.

Police are asking the public to assist by looking around on their property for Wenz. Anyone who may have seen her is asked to call the police department at 360-748-8605 or Lewis County dispatch at 360-740-1105.