Lewis County Sirens.com

Keith D. Keene prepares to go in front of a judge in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 49-year-old Centralia man was charged yesterday for allegedly molesting three women on separate occasions who he allowed to use his bed when they were either nodded off after using heroin or sleeping while withdrawing from drugs.

Keith D. Keene told a detective when he was arrested he knew their fathers or parents and never touched them.

Keene was arrested on Thursday night when detectives went to the Scammon Creek Apartments in Centralia and spoke to the third alleged victim and then him, according to court documents.

A detective searched Keene’s bedroom and reportedly found a glass smoking device and a small baggie, both with white residue. He was not charged with any drug crime.

When Keene was brought before a judge yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court, Deputy Prosecutor Joel DeFazio asked for $100,000 bail, suggesting a public safety risk.

Temporary defense attorney Rachael Tiller requested the amount of bail be lower, as Keene has no felony history, resides locally and is employed locally by Sterling Breen. His only non-traffic misdemeanor was a fourth-degree assault from 1997.

Judge Joely O’Rourke chose $25,000 bail and signed sexual assault protection orders that require Keene not to go within 1,000 feet of the alleged victims.

Charging documents in the case indicate an inmate at the Lewis County Jail asked to speak with Centralia Police Department detective Adam Haggerty last July, and told him of at least four females who may have been sexually assaulted by Keene.

The documents go on to give the following account of interviews he subsequently conducted:

Later that month, the detective talked with a 21-year-old who at first said nothing happened and she wasn’t a snitch. “(Her) eyes welled up with tears and she looked away,” Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Melissa Bohm wrote.

However, the young woman contacted the detective later that night and said she would talk.

She said it happened in mid-May when she and a friend went to Keene’s fifth-wheel trailer and she injected heroin and nodded off. When she came to, her friend was gone and Keene told her she could use his bedroom and rest while she waited.

The 21-year-old said she woke up to her pants being pulled down to her ankles and Keene next to her in bed, with his finger inside her. She jumped up, fixed her clothes and left.

For that, prosecutors charged him with second-degree rape, an offense that has a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Detective Haggerty next interviewed a 20-year-old who described a somewhat similar scenario she said occurred in November 2015, a visit with friends to the fifth-wheel trailer. She said she woke up and Keene was behind her – clothed in boxer shorts and a wife beater T-shirt – rubbing himself against her. She said she got up and immediately went outside.

On Thursday night, detectives got a tip a recent victim of Keene’s was at the Scammon Creek Apartments, and found she had an outstanding warrant. Members of the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team and state Department of Corrections went there, arrested her and then Haggerty interviewed her. The 29-year-old said that in early February, Keene told her she could lay down on his bed and sleep as she was coming down from a several day drug binge.

The 29-year-old said she woke up to find Keene spooning her, rubbing himself against her backside and had one hand inside her panties.

For those incidents, Keene is charged with indecent liberties, crimes with maximum penalties of 10 years in prison.

“Detective Haggerty told Keene that he needed to speak with him about a serious matter,” Bohm wrote in the charging documents.

Before the detective could ask a question, Keene blurted out that a girl accused him of touching her and it was not true, the court documents relate.

Keene’s arraignment is scheduled for next Thursday in Lewis County Superior Court.

Alexis Cardenas, left, and Morelia V. Ayala Garcia await their turn to go before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Centralia College student and his 19-year-old girlfriend were charged today in connection with a string of fast food establishment burglaries, two of which the thieves broke in by cutting a hole through the roof.

Alexis Cardenas, 26, of Centralia, came to the attention of local police after he was caught red-handed breaking in to the Taco Bell in Olympia the other night, according to Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead.

In one case, the intruders had the combination to the safe, Halstead said.

His alleged accomplice, Morelia V. Ayala Garcia, 19, also of Centralia, was a manager at the McDonalds in Centralia, according to authorities. She no longer works there, police said.

Both were arrested on Wednesday and held in the Lewis County Jail until charges were filed today in Lewis County Superior Court.

In one case, about $2,800 was stolen, in another it was $5,700, according to Halstead. He wasn’t certain this afternoon of the amount in the third case. The incidents all happened in the late spring of 2015 in Centralia.

Arby’s on the 1200 block of Belmont Avenue was hit on April 14, 2015. In that case, some broke out a window to get inside, according to charging documents.

Thieves struck at McDonalds on the 1200 block of Lum Road on May 28, 2015. Then they struck again at the Centralia Wendy’s on the 800 block of Harrison Avenue on June 13, 2015. In both cases they got inside by by cutting a hole in the roof, according to police.

Police are looking for four other suspects they believe were involved.

Cardenas is charged with three counts of second-degree burglary and three counts of first-degree malicious mischief.

Halstead told a judge this afternoon that even though Cardenas was incarcerated when the McDonalds break-in occurred, they believe he directed it.

Ayala Garcia is charged in only the McDonalds case.

Halstead said the crimes involved a high degree of sophistication. He asked that Cardenas be held on $300,000 bail, out of concern about interfering with the administration of justice by trying to contact witnesses.

While he was released on $20,000 bail in Thurston County after the Olympia burglary, Halstead said that amount was “a joke.”

Temporary defense attorney Rachael Tiller argued for a lesser amount, noting Cardenas is a student at Centralia College, employed at a local auto dealership and resides in Centralia. Lewis County Superior Court Judge Joely O’Rourke said she considered him a very serious threat to community safety and ordered the high bail.

Halstead asked that Ayala Garcia be held on $25,000 bail, noting her situation was different in that she allegedly participated only in one burglary and had nothing more than a speeding ticket on her record. He also said Ayala Garcia didn’t appear to be a citizen, but may have a work permit.

Tiller noted to the judge Ayala Garcia has a 7-month-old baby, works as an insurance agent, had family in the courtroom and wasn’t a flight risk. O’Rourke set her bail at $25,000, noting she was not concerned about Ayala Garcia returning to court as ordered.

Halstead asked the judge to sign an order allowing DNA samples to be taken from the suspects.

The Olympia Police Department Tweeted on Monday they caught a burglar during the night trying to break in to a safe, noting an alarm, the sounds of a grinder being used and foot prints in the snow which led to a rooftop ladder and their suspect at Taco Bell.

Their arraignments are set for next Thursday in Lewis County Superior Court.

A woman who said she was the daughter, sister of victims and her companions enter the home after investigators leave.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

GLENOMA – Investigators didn’t find any particular surprises as they examined the scene of a house fire with three deaths in Glenoma yesterday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said the home on the 100 block of Frost Creek Road was occupied by a husband, his wife and adult son. Three adult bodies were removed by the coroner’s office and autopsies will be conducted, he said.

The small house built in 1940 sits on a moderate-sized parcel just north of U.S. Highway 12  with neighboring homes close by. The community of Glenoma is just seven miles east of Morton, both of which are surrounded by the foot hills of the Cascade Mountains.

Dan Powell who lives across the street said he was awakened by one of his neighbors beating on his door, saying he couldn’t get through to 911.

Powell put on his pants, grabbed his 25-pound fire extinguisher and headed over. Another neighbor from up the road, a volunteer firefighter, was already on the scene, he said.

“He told me he went around and tried to rouse someone from the windows, but he didn’t get any response,” Powell said.

Already they could see flames from the kitchen and living room area, as well as a window on the opposite side of the house.

“Like I said, we couldn’t get close to it,” Powell said.

There were multiple 911 calls that came in around 3:23 a.m. yesterday. Four fire departments responded to put out the blaze.

The house is still standing, but Breen late yesterday afternoon pointed to area to the right of the front door, where the kitchen’s wall would have been, next to the garage-carport area. Pieces of metal roofing hung in front of the carport.

Where specifically the fire seems to have originated, they aren’t yet saying, Breen said.

“They do not have a definite conclusion yet,” Breen said as detectives and a fire investigator prepared to clear the scene.

Their task yesterday was to conduct two investigations, one for what caused the fire and another for what caused the deaths, Breen said.

He said they spoke to family asking questions about the electrical and what the residents used for heating, he said.

“They had propane at one time, but that’s shut off,” Breen said. “It sounds like they had electric heaters.”

Investigators didn’t find any smoke detectors, he said.

The victims were found in different areas of the home, Breen said, a bedroom, the hallway and the living room.

Powell and his fiancee, Judy Nelson said the elderly couple had lived there more than a decade. Neither one of them drove, he said.

It wasn’t too long ago the son came to live with them, Powell said. And they lost their daughter about a year ago, he said.

“He was very helpful with his parents, like he built a ramp for them,” Nelson said.

Powell knows fires well, as he is the chief for Lewis County Fire District 4, which protects the area surrounding Morton.

He’s been with his department 45 years and during that time, they’ve never had a fatal fire, he said.

“I just hope they went to sleep and slept right through it,” Powell said.

“That’s what we’re hoping for,” Nelson said.

Once identification and next of kin notification are made, the victim’s identities will be released by the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.
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For background, read, “Three dead in Glenoma residential structure fire” from Thursday February 9, 2017, here

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Deputies and fire investigator left tape blocking the front yard of the Frost Creek Road home.

April K. Kelley says her goodbyes while a corrections officer waits to escort her down to the Lewis County Jail.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 35-year-old married mother of two and former county employee was dressed in black as she tearfully received hugs from arriving supporters in the hall outside the courtroom.

She knew prosecutors would be asking the judge to sentence her to 10 years in prison for stealing tens of thousands of dollars from an association in which she served as treasurer.

April K. Kelley knew her attorney would request a special sentence available for first time offenders, which could amount to 90 days in jail.

Seven rows of benches behind her were filled, when Kelley sat before Judge Andrew Toynbee this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.

“I’m not proud of what I did by any means, but I’m proud of how I handled it,” Kelly said as she stood reading from a piece of paper. “What I did was a terrible thing; I wake up every morning shocked that it happened.”

Kelley worked at the Lewis County Department of Public Health & Social Services, and in that capacity, served as treasurer for the Association of County Human Services. When a new treasurer took over last year, the books were reviewed and money was missing. She was arrested in September after an investigation conducted by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

She pleaded guilty last month to  eight counts of first-degree theft, committed over a less than four-year period ending in the spring of 2014.

The standard sentencing range for her crimes was 22 to 29 months.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer addressed the court, saying there are times when that would be appropriate, but this was not one of those times.

“The defendant admitted she violated a position of trust,” Meyer said.

ACHS is a non-profit group with members who provide or administer programs related to chemical dependency, mental health and developmental disabilities. Kelley was  social services manager for Lewis County.

Meyer estimates Kelley stole about $143,000.

“Something that sets Ms. Kelley apart, is she stole from every taxpayer in the state of Washington,” he said. “She spent it on lavish things that she was not willing to work for.”

Meyer noted over $1,000 in tickets to events, and shopping in Las Vegas, Canada and California.

She stole 90 percent of ACHS’s revenue during one year and about 75 percent of it in another year, he said.

The prosecutor suggested the judge should not give much weight to a letter in her court file that says she is bipolar, nor should he offer leniency because of an impact on her children.

Meyer raised the issue of a letter of support from Lewis County Commissioner Bobby Jackson, which he called inappropriate.

“It shows the manipulative nature of the defendant,” he said.

Defense attorney Shane O’Rourke acknowledged to the court it was a lot of money and there was no good or acceptable explanation for his client’s conduct.

“I think we’re in a difficult position, me and Ms. Kelley,” he said. “Not from a sympathetic perspective.”

O’Rourke pointed out there was no loss of life, no violence.

“Ultimately, we’re considering a property crime,” he said.

O’Rourke and Meyer had both submitted written briefs ahead of time, and he spoke to some of the comparisons to other cases involving large thefts of money in recent years.

His client is saying she’s sorry because she is sorry, he said. And she voluntarily paid $10,000 back the day before, which is as much as she possibly could, he said.

O’Rourke requested she be given 90 days in jail, which would be a punishment for someone who has never been to jail, he said.

Toynbee considered aloud the various aspects he would or would not consider, noting her sentence could be as little as zero days or as long as 80 years. He noted she has no criminal background.

The judge acknowledged the defendant has incredible community support, but that individuals don’t get a break because they are a good person.

“People are sentenced based on their actions, not their value in the communities eyes,” he said.

Toynbee concluded by telling Kelley he was sentencing her to 36 months with the Department of Corrections.

The parties agreed to return to court at 1 p.m. tomorrow, to fill out and file the written judgement and sentence. Kelley was to be taken down to the jail at the end of the hearing.

The judge left the bench and eventually a corrections officer arrived to retrieve her. For more than 10 minutes, Kelley accepted hugs from her supporters who lined up in the aisle.

Kelley was escorted, unhand-cuffed, by a corrections officer out of the room just before 2 p.m.

Lewis County Commissioner Jackson outside the courtroom declined to comment on his Dec. 28 letter submitted in support of the now-former county employee, in which he asked for leniency.
•••

For background, read “Ex-government employee admits stealing thousands from account she managed” from Friday January 20, 2017, here

Deputy Jeff Godbey, center, flanked by nominees for Field Operations Bureau Employee of the Year.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – When Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza stood at the pulpit in preparation to recognize outstanding employees, he began with a moment of silence to honor law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty last year.

Fifteen officers nationwide met the same fate so far this year, a number that increased by two between the time Snaza prepared his remarks and yesterday afternoon when he gave them.

Sheriff Snaza got teary-eyed, and said so aloud.

He told the gathering how each night as he goes to bed, he checks to make sure his phone is working.

“And I think about you guys, and I hope that I don’t get that phone call,” he said, his voice breaking.

Members of the sheriff’s office met yesterday afternoon at the Bethel Church of the Assemblies of God in Napavine, for the annual event. They were joined by family members and some members of the community.

Snaza spoke to all his employees, telling them not to feel left out one bit if they weren’t called to the stage.

“Every one of you are role models, team players,” he said. “I look up to you each and every day.”

Guardian Awards
• Special Services Bureau – Detective Jamey McGinty
• Corrections Bureau – Capt. Chris Tawes

Employee of the Year Awards for 2016
• Services Bureau – Accountant Sandy Lupo
• Corrections Bureau – Support Technician II Jennifer Teitzel
• Corrections Bureau – Corrections Deputy Jeremy Engel
• Field Operations Bureau – Deputy Jeff Godbey

Top Performer Awards for 2016
• Deputy Skylar Eastman
• Corrections Deputy Kimberly Crook

Sheriff’s Award
• Sgt. Alan Stull

Sheriff Life Saving Medal
• Deputy Tyson Brown

Citizen Life Saving Award
• Matt Mohney
• Chad Smith
• Teresa Smith
• April Brathovd

Citizenship Award (United Way, Shop with a Cop)
• Debbie Campbell
• Linda Raschke
• Linda Lee
• Angela French
• Sue Muller