Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Bail was set at $50,000 each for a pair of men who allegedly set fires around downtown Winlock early on Saturday morning.

Aaron J. Kalista, 33, and Brent T. Brooks, 30, who reside in Winlock, were charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with second-degree arson.

Aaron J. Kalista

No injuries were reported and no buildings burned down, but firefighters and police Sgt. Sam Patrick responded to four random fires within less than an hour, according to court documents.

It was about 4:14 a.m. when Patrick was asked to go to the 200 block of Southeast First Street where the fire department was extinguishing a small fire which seemed to have been intentionally set in a pile of new construction materials next to a house being remodeled, according to authorities.

At 5 o’clock the same morning, a fire was discovered in a dumpster against the wall of the Winlock Post Office, just blocks to the north, on the 200 block of Northeast First Street, according to charging documents.

There was also a fire in another nearby dumpster on the other side of the post office, next to a fence, according to Patrick.

Brent T. Brooks

As Patrick responded, he was informed of another fire across from the hardware store on the 500 block of Northeast First Street where boards, pallets and grass were burning, Patrick said.

While the fires were being extinguished, Patrick and two sheriff’s deputies began to search the area looking for who might be responsible, according to charging documents.

Patrick was able to view surveillance images from the hardware store, and saw two males walking away from the last fire, and curiously looking back at it, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Melissa Bohm wrote in charging documents.

Patrick recognized the two as the men he’d contacted just before he learned of the first fire, according to Bohm.

Patrick said he had been following up on a complaint of two males harassing someone, came across Kalista and Brooks on foot and spoke with them, and took down their names.

He and the deputies responded to the suspects’ home on the 100 block of state Route 505, and found them wearing the same attire observed in the video, according to Bohm.

They were booked into the Lewis County Jail.

Both were given court appointed lawyers this afternoon. Their arraignments were scheduled for Thursday.

Sabrina L. Sumter is brought before a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court for a bail hearing.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 25-year-old Centralia woman was arrested after police learned a test that came back from her 3-month-old baby who died last month showed positive for the presence of methamphetamine.

It’s not yet clear what caused the child’s death as prosecutors have not gotten the final autopsy report yet.

But Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer charged the mom today with endangerment with a controlled substance.

Sabrina L. Sumter was booked into the Lewis County Jail last night and brought before a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.

Meyer said there were no outward signs of trauma but the results of a blood test showed meth in the baby’s system. He said Sumter admitted to smoking meth in her home the day before her child’s death.

He said he learned today the test results on Sumter’s other child came back negative for drugs. That child was placed into the custody of Child Protective Services, he said.

Meyer asked the judge to hold the defendant on $50,000 bail, but temporary defense attorney Rachael Tiller asked for the amount to be set at $5,000, noting Sumter has lived at the same address for almost a year, there are no children in the home and she has zero criminal history.

Judge Andrew Toybnee ordered her held on $25,000 bail.

The alleged offense holds a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and/or a $20,000 fine. The allegation is the defendant knowingly allowed the infant to be exposed to, to inhale, to ingest or have contact with methamphetamine.

Meyer said he is not alleging the mother or any exposure caused the child’s death, at this time.

He has not gotten the final autopsy report yet from the pathologist, he said, since the test results just came back yesterday.

Sumter’s address in court documents is listed as an apartment on the 1400 block of Johnson Road in Centralia.

According to charging documents, police were called on May 6 when Sumter awoke and found the child unresponsive. A roommate called 911.

Attempts to revive the baby were unsuccessful and the baby was pronounced dead a short time later at Providence Centralia Hospital, according to the documents.

As part of the normal autopsy procedure, a sample of the child’s blood was submitted for testing, Meyer wrote in the affidavit regarding probable cause.

Centralia police detective Patty Finch received a copy of the toxicology report yesterday and Sumter was interviewed, according to the documents.

Sumter “did admit to smoking methamphetamine regularly,” Meyer wrote.

She allegedly also admitted to having other people in the house smoking meth and not removing the children from the situation, according to Meyer. She also allegedly admitted to smoking marijuana in her home with her children present, Meyer stated in the documents.

Meyer said part of the reason he asked for high bail was Sumter had wanted to talk to police or CPS about her other child going to live with its father in Mexico. The father was in federal custody at the time of the death and has been deported, according to Meyer.

Toybnee appointed Chehalis attorney Chris Baum to represent the mother. Her arraignment is scheduled for next Thursday.

Portrait of Chehalis police dog Reign

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Chehalis Police Department’s K-9 Reign died suddenly last night while on duty.

His partner Officer Warren Ayers was conducting routine training while on duty when his dog suffered an unexpected medical event, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

Despite first aid attempts, Reign passed away almost immediately, according to police.

The Belgian Malinois came to the department when he was a year old and put into active duty in May 2013, according to department spokesperson Linda Bailey.

“Reign and Officer Ayers were paired together and became a very effective canine team, working closely with the other teams in Lewis and surrounding counties,” Bailey stated in a press release this morning.

The K-9 is credited with multiple suspect apprehensions, successful article and evidence searches, and for alerting on and finding impressive quantities of narcotics during his tenure, according to Bailey.

“Reign was an important member of our law enforcement family and will be dearly missed,” Bailey wrote. ” Our hearts go out to Officer Ayers’ family today as well, for their loss.”

Reign will be taken to Washington State University today so an exam can be performed to determine exactly what caused his death.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 34-year-old Winlock woman has pleaded not guilty to theft charges in a case in which she allegedly took over bank accounts of woman who was hospitalized and then died.

Aurora S. Fulmer claimed 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.

Aurora S. Fulmer

The woman, whose name is not revealed in the documents, passed away on Jan. 11 and resided at a home on the 100 block of Fircrest Road in Centralia.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office began investigating on Feb. 8 and arrested Fulmer on June 13, suggesting Fulmer wrongfully withdrew more than $43,000 from two of the woman’s accounts.

When she went before a judge the following day, she was allowed release pending trial on a $10,000 unsecured bond.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Jeffrey Schapp said Fulmer had one prior felony conviction, for a violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act. Temporary defense attorney Kevin Nelson said Fulmer had spent a fair amount of time in drug court, “but it did not work out.”

Fulmer is charged with one count of second-degree theft (less than $5,000) and three counts of second-degree identity theft.

The case came to light after Deanna Adams, a 36-year-old Shelton resident, contacted the sheriff’s office to report a theft, according to authorities.

Adams said she and her mother had been estranged for eight years and she learned from the coroner’s office on Jan. 24 her mother had died.

Charging documents go on to give the following account:

Adams collected items of her mother’s from the coroner’s office including a house key and went to the home where she found Fulmer.

Fulmer told she’d been the mother’s caregiver for a year and lived in the home for six months and showed Adams a power of attorney. The document originally had the mother’s partner listed as the agent, but it was crossed or whited out and replaced with Fulmer’s name.

Fulmer subsequently said she had the dead woman’s will and had been in contact with the dead woman’s attorney “the entire time.”

Adams became suspicious, going through her mother’s checkbook and finding several checks written out to Fulmer, but not in her mother’s handwriting. After she was appointed court administrator for her mother’s estate, she reviewed documents from the Bank of America which showed more than 100 transactions between Jan. 9 and Jan. 23.

A sheriff’s detective discovered more than $17,000 moved from the dead woman’s social security bank account during roughly the same period, and connected one ATM withdrawal to Fulmer via video.

Detective Gene Seiber also collected documents linking Fulmer and the Bank of America account including 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.

Seiber spoke with Adam’s mother’s “actual caregiver” who said no one other than the deceased woman was staying at the house prior to her last day of work in mid-October. Fulmer first showed up at the house the same month, her boyfriend had been hired to do yard work, Seiber learned.

Seiber spoke with a neighbor on Fircrest Road who said only the deceased woman had been living at the house until she went into the hospital, but then he saw traffic increase and could tell someone moved in.

Detective Seiber also learned that on March 23, Fulmer showed up at Adam’s mother’s attorney’s office without an appointment, and left behind a copy of the last will and testament.

The attorney had originally prepared the will in 2011, but in the copy she left, Fulmer’s name had been handwritten on the documents, leaving all personal property and money to Fulmer. It was initialed with Adam’s mother’s initials, but not certified.

The attorney told Seiber he had no personal contact with Fulmer before March 23.

Fulmer moved out of the house the next day and Adams took possession of it the next day.

Fulmer, who also uses the last name of Contreras, pleaded not guilty to all charges on Thursday in Lewis County Superior Court. Her trial was scheduled for the week of Sept. 4
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For background, read “Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup – THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS STOLEN FROM HOSPITALIZED” from Wednesday June 14, 2017, here

Paulo Botello-Garcia, center, consults with his attorney during sentencing in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A former Centralia man whose convictions and 30-year sentence were rejected by the court of appeals entered into a plea deal instead of going through a second trial and was given a new sentence yesterday of nine years in a child sex abuse case.

Paulo Botello-Garcia made an Alford plea to four counts of second-degree child molestation.

When he appeared before a judge yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court, his attorney asked for the low end of the standard sentencing range that applied, arguing his client’s previous lawyer failed to present information about the Iraq war veteran’s post traumatic stress disorder.

Seattle-based attorney Peter Connick told the judge Botello-Garcia had led a crime free life prior to incarceration and stayed out of trouble while locked up.

Botello-Garcia was arrested in 2012 after a 15-year-old girl’s mother found writings in the teen’s journal about incidents that had occurred in the past and he was convicted in a 2014 jury trial. He and the victim were members of the same household.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Melissa Bohm asked the judge to impose the high end of the sentencing range, specifically 116 months in prison and then four months of supervision.

Bohm noted Botello-Garcia had a third-degree theft from 2012.

Botello-Garcia spoke through a Spanish interpreter and declined to make a statement to the court on his own behalf.

Judge Andrew Toynbee said the disability played only a small role in his decision, and behaving well while in prison played no role.

Toynbee ordered a sentence of nine years with 12 months of supervision after release. Four months would be too short, according to Toynbee. The defendant will get credit for time already served.

The convictions that were tossed out by the Washington State Court of Appeals were two counts of second-degree child molestation and two counts of second-degree rape of a child. The panel found the trial court erred in admitting certain evidence and remanded the case for a new trial for the 41-year-old Centralia man.

Connick said he and his client had been prepared to go to trial again, but entered into the plea agreement the day before it was to begin.

Judge Toynbee signed a 10-year sexual assault protection order prohibiting Botello-Garcia from contacting the victim.
•••

For background, read “Centralia man un-convicted of child sex crimes back in court” from Wednesday June 29, 2016, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The body of  34-year-old Jesse Cruz of Oakville was found yesterday near the mouth of the river in which he vanished.

Jesse Cruz

Brinnon Fire Department Chief Tim Manly said some workers were checking shellfish around noon yesterday and as they returned from the tide flats spotted Cruz.

Cruz went missing in the Duckabush River in Jefferson County on Saturday afternoon.

He and friends were recreating at a place called Ranger Hole and he had jumped from a high rock into the water and his friends went in behind him, according to authorities.

Manly said someone on land with a stick was helping Cruz’s girlfriend out and he was behind her helping and then he disappeared.

“Jesse was known for his love of the water, he was a good swimmer,” Manley said.

But it’s a location they don’t recommend for swimming, he said.

A search was conducted until dark that night and again on Sunday and Monday, Manly said.

Cruz traveled about three and a half miles down the river, he said.

Manly called it a blessing he was found.
•••

For background, read “Read about Oakville resident missing after river accident …” from Wednesday June 21, 2017, here

Dog Mountain and the Dog Patch are situated southeast of Morton.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – One man is dead and another injured after their paraglider chutes tangled at Dog Mountain in East Lewis County.

Law enforcement and aid responded to the approximately 7:45 p.m. call yesterday to the area known as Dog Patch off Champion Haul Road near Glenoma.

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said the 68-year-old Vancouver, Washington man hit the ground at a high speed and he died.

The 71-year-old man from Beaverton, Oregon was transported to the hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life threatening, according to Breen. Witnesses said his chute had remained somewhat open.

Breen said the two were paragliding together, got too close to each other and their chutes tangled. The incident is being investigated.

Dog Mountain which is popular with hang gliders as well rises from the east end of Riffe Lake.