Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Board of Commissioners voted to give Sheriff Rob Snaza a raise of more than $18,000 a year.

The move comes after discussing the issue for as long as he’s been on the board, said BOCC Vice Chair Gary Stamper who was elected two years ago.

Snaza was also elected in November 2014.

Sheriff Rob Snaza

The salaries of Lewis County’s elected officials are set in a process that involves a citizen panel. The panel establishes the pay for the three county commissioners. It makes recommendations about the wages for the other elected officials which the three-member board of county commissioners may adopt.

The process has been in place since 2001.

The last time the panel convened, in early 2014, they suggested raises of five percent for all the positions. Beginning in January of that year, and still today, the annual salary of $75,108 applies to the assessor, auditor, clerk, coroner and treasurer. Coroner Warren McLeod actually only made half that until he switched from half-time to full-time in 2015.

The panel’s recommendations gave the county commissioners a little more ($82,620), the sheriff even more ($90,644), and the prosecutor even more than that ($141,705).

Commissioner Edna Fund

A resolution to increase the sheriff’s salary was approved unanimously on Monday by Commissioners Stamper, Edna Fund and Bill Schulte. It was one of eight items on the consent agenda, voted on as a bundle.

The stated reason in the resolution indicates the matter would be “depoliticized” if it were taken out of the hands of the salary commission. Instead, beginning Jan. 1, it states, the sheriff shall be paid a salary five percent greater than the undersheriff.

The resolution indicates other reasons for the change: because the sheriff currently earns less than his subordinate and because he earns less than sheriffs of comparable counties in the state.

Undersheriff Wes Rethwill is paid $101,280 a year, with his pay tied to the pay of other commissioned officers at the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The deputies wages are set by a collective bargaining agreement – their union contract – with the undersheriff and other command staff’s salaries set at certain percentages higher.

Commissioner Bill Schulte

On Jan. 1, Undersheriff Rethwill’s annual salary will rise to $103,812. So Sheriff Snaza’s annual salary of $90,644 will grow to $109,000.

Sheriff Snaza says he’s “just thinking of our office and thought it was the right thing to do.”

He put the resolution before the county commissioners in July, and it got tabled because Commissioner Schulte was out on leave, he said.

“This was two years in the making, because I’ve never asked for a raise before,” Snaza said.

Among the reasons for his proposal, he said, are he’s earning less than his undersheriff, less than some other sheriffs who don’t even run jail facilities and he feels the role of sheriff has changed.

“I just felt like the sheriff is just like the CEO of a company and should be paid at a higher rate,” Snaza said.

Commissioner Gary Stamper

Snaza spoke of how different his job is from other elected Lewis County officials.

He’s in charge of a much larger organization with more than 100 employees, as well as volunteers and then a jail with an average population of 200 inmates.

“You’re responsible 24-7, 365 days a year,” he said. “If we have a flood, it’s not the auditor that gets up at 3 a.m.”

He said he’s not asking the commissioners to put more money into the sheriff’s office budget for his raise. The sheriff’s office will absorb it, he said.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office annual budget of about $14.2 million this year is expected to be about $14.5 million next year.

He said he has mixed feelings about it, feeling he deserves the raise, but thinks some people might not understand it.

“I know the concerns, people are going to say, ‘he’s an elected, he knew what he was getting into’,” he said.

And he pondered aloud, he wished it didn’t take place the same time as the county is considering cutting back on its support to the senior centers.

It’s something the former sheriff contended with, earning less than some of the people working below him as well. When Snaza was a sergeant, sometimes with overtime his paycheck would be bigger than Mansfield’s, he said.

“I used to always tease Steve Mansfield about it,” Snaza said.

Part of Snaza’s thinking includes how fiscally responsible he feels his office has been.

“I think it’s incumbent on every official to ask, what are we doing to save money, and to bring revenue into the county,” he said.

Last year, the sheriff’s office used $684,000 less than they were budgeted for, and turned that money back into the county general fund, he said.

They also bring in money, by renting out jail beds to other agencies.

In 2015, that amounted to a little over $1.5 million in revenue from the jail, he said. “This year, we’re looking at about $2.1 million,” he said.

The local salary commission’s role has not changed otherwise, by the recent resolution.

Its role remains to set the pay for the assessor, auditor, clerk, coroner, treasurer, commissioners and prosecutor.

When the group evaluated salaries in 2014, its philosophy was an elected official in Lewis County should be paid a comparable rate to an individual doing the same job in a similar county.

The only Lewis County elected officials whose pay is not dealt with by the salary commission are the judges in Lewis County District and Superior Courts. They’re fixed by a state commission on salaries.

And as of Monday, the sheriff’s pay is exempt from that group’s influence as well.

The long name for the citizen group is the Lewis County Independent Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials.

The salary commission only convenes when requested by the Lewis County Board of Commissioners, according to Lewis County Human Resource Director Archie Smith.
••••

2016 LEWIS COUNTY ELECTED OFFICIALS ANNUAL SALARIES

Assessor: Dianne Dorey: $75,108

Auditor: Larry E. Grove: $75,108

Clerk: Scott Tinney: $75,108

Coroner: Warren McLeod: $75,108

Treasurer: Arny Davis: $75,108

Commissioner: Bill Schulte: $82,620

Commissioner: Edna Fund: $82,620

Commissioner: Gary Stamper: $82,620

Sheriff: Rob Snaza: $90,644

Prosecutor: Jonathan Meyer: $141,705*
•••

* The Lewis County prosecutor’s pay is tied to the salary commission but also has state influence, and the state pays more than half of it, according to Lewis County Human Resource Director Archie Smith.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A judge set bail with $25,000 signature bonds for the suspects accused of breaking into a Centralia residence while a woman home alone there locked herself in her bedroom.

Reginald D. Ford, 22, and Isaiah M. Kelly, 20, a pair of cousins from Federal Way, are each charged with residential burglary.

Kelly was arrested shortly after the Saturday afternoon incident at the 900 block of West Pear Street.

The three Centralia College basketball team members who reside there, but weren’t home at the time, told police Kelly was on the team with them, until he was released at the start of the school year.

When Ford was brought before a judge yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court, temporary defense attorney Joely O’Rourke told the judge Ford was requesting a court appointed lawyer. He is unemployed, she said.

Charging documents relate the victim heard someone knock, then pound on the front door and then kick it open. She said she was scared because her boyfriend and their roommates were away and she locked herself into her bedroom.

She said she heard the sounds of someone going through things in the house, but didn’t hear any talking and was on the phone with dispatch when her bedroom door was kicked in.

She yelled, they left, according to court documents.

When police followed up, they learned numerous items were missing from the home including two Xboxes, several games and a Bluetooth speaker, according to the documents. A pair of Nike Air Jordans belonging to one of the residents were found near where police located Kelly.

Ford was booked into the Lewis County Jail on Monday. Arraignments for both suspects are scheduled for Dec. 8.
•••

For background, read “News brief: Victim startles burglars inside Centralia residence” from Sunday November 27, 2016, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A judge declared a mistrial yesterday in a rape case in Lewis County Superior Court and it’s not clear if prosecutors will attempt to try again.

A 23-year-old Centralia man was charged late this summer for an incident reported in the spring of 2015 that allegedly occurred a year earlier at a rural Centralia home with a young woman with whom he had somewhat of an intimate relationship.

Jordan T. White was charged with second-degree rape, pleaded not guilty and proceeded to trial. He has been free on an unsecured bond.

Defense attorney Shane O’Rourke said they were most of the way through their first day yesterday, when the sheriff’s deputy sitting with the deputy prosecutor dropped his pen onto the table, at a particular point during a recording being played for the jury.

O’Rourke said he wondered if it was intentional or not and began watching the deputy, and saw him bow his head and put it into the palm of his hand, in a way a person could potentially perceive to mean, “I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”

Finally, when the deputy gestured to the alleged victim while she was on the stand testifying, O’Rourke made an objection and the jurors were sent out of the room.

“I wondered, is he encouraging her to cry, trying to console her,” he said. “Unfortunately, the jurors were watching.”

It’s common for the investigating law enforcement officer to sit at the prosecutor’s table during criminal trials. Officers of the court are not allowed to comment on the evidence during trial, even non-verbally.

O’Rourke asked Judge Nelson Hunt for a dismissal, for government misconduct, saying he believed the deputy’s actions tainted the jury.

Judge Hunt concluded the defendant had been prejudiced, citing intentional and problematic behavior, O’Rourke said. He declared a mistrial.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Melissa Bohm declined to comment today if another trial would be held.

Bohm said the attorneys will go before a judge tomorrow, to set a new date for a trial, but she expects the defense will make a motion to dismiss the case entirely.

The case was investigated by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, beginning in April 2015. The alleged victim, 19 years old at the time, said she didn’t report it when it happened out of fear, embarrassment and uncertainty about what would happen, according to charging documents.

She told the deputy she and her friends were drinking Fireball, she was heavily intoxicated and realized the next morning she had been anally penetrated, according to the allegations. White told the deputy the two had a history of fooling around, with oral sex, and on the night in question, what they did was her idea, because she wanted to remain a virgin, the documents state.

A brief hearing is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.

David Serrano Mosso

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Law enforcement is looking for a 20-year-old Centralia resident, suspected to have shot an acquaintance yesterday at the northwest edge of Centralia.

Authorities say David Serrano Mosso was a passenger in a white sport utility vehicle that pulled up near an apartment complex at the 3100 block of Ives Road, off Harrison Avenue.

Serrano Mosso called out to the 19-year-old male victim, and when he approached, Serrano Mosso fired one round from a handgun, grazing the victim’s leg, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office

Deputies dispatched at 2:42 p.m. learned the 19-year-old Centralia man drove himself to the hospital, Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said.

“The victim and the suspect are acquaintances and have only known each other for a few months,” Breen stated in a news release.

The vehicle and its driver were located last night, but Serrano Mosso remains at large, according to Breen.

The victim had done some automotive work in the past for Serrano Mosso, according to Breen.

Anyone having information on the whereabouts of Serrano Mosso is asked to contact the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office at (360) 748-9286, or Lewis County Communications at (360) 740-1105.

A Centralia resident with the same name and also 20 years old was recently convicted in a case in which a 37-year-old Centralia man was beaten inside his car in the parking lot at Providence Centralia Hospital this summer. David Serrano Mosso was initially charged in Lewis County Superior Court with first-degree assault but made an Alford plea to second-degree assault and was sentenced the end of September to time served.

He had no criminal convictions prior to that, according to prosecutors.

•••

For background, read “News brief: Centralia man shot by individual in vehicle, which then flees” from Tuesday November 29, 2016, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The final count in the only contested race for Lewis County Superior Court judge indicates overwhelming support for local lawyer Joely O’Rourke.

O’Rourke won 72 percent of the votes while her opponent gathered only 28 percent. The numbers are rounded to whole votes, though officially include two decimal places to the right of a single vote.

The Nov. 8 vote-by-mail general election in Lewis County is certified today. Turnout was almost 78 percent.

Joely O’Rourke

While the Chehalis woman will be the first female superior court judge in county history, it’s not something she gave a lot of thought to during the campaign, she said.

“I really wanted to be elected solely on my qualifications,” O’Rourke said. “It’s definitely an honor, for sure.”

The graduate of the University of Washington and Gonzaga University Law School began her professional career as a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

In 2009, she started working as a deputy prosecutor in the criminal division at the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.

For the past two years, O’Rourke has been in private practice, representing defendants at their first appearance on criminal charges in both Lewis County District Court and Lewis County Superior Court.

She will be sworn in and take the bench on Jan. 9. She will replace Judge Richard Brosey who is retiring after more than 18 years in the position.

Twenty-thousand-seven-hundred-seventy-one voters marked their ballots for O’Rourke, compared with 8,258 who supported rural Chehalis attorney Katherine Gulmert.

In a year that saw more than $51 million in candidate contributions across Washington state, O’Rourke’s campaign raised more than $26,000 and Gulmert’s raised none, according to figures available from the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission.

Gulmert, a former deputy prosecutor who now has a private practice in Chehalis, posted an open letter to her supporters and the community on her campaign website shortly after election day. With less than half the votes counted at that point, Gulmert’s showing was just 30 percent.

She congratulated O’Rourke on her victory.

“It was a well-run and dignified campaign and I hope that she continues to serve Lewis County for many years to come,” Gulmert stated. “I expect that when I appear before her I will see what so many local attorneys and judges already know, that she is fair, unbiased and prepared in every area of the law.”

Adna resident Andrew Toynbee will also be sworn in in January, taking the seat of Judge Nelson Hunt who is retiring too. Toynbee is leaving the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office to return to Lewis County, where he spent 13 years in the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.

He ran unopposed and earned 22,654 votes.

The third Lewis County Superior Court judge, James Lawler, was also unchallenged for another four-year term. Lawler was first elected in 2007. He got 23,662 votes.

Lewis County voters submitted 35,786 ballots in this presidential election year. Republican president-elect Donald Trump secured 21,992 votes (64 percent) while the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton got 9,654 (28 percent).

There are 46,094 registered voters in the county, with a population of  roughly 75,000.

The Lewis County Board of Commissioners saw two contested races, with incumbent Edna Fund beating challenger Dan Keahey, 53 percent to 47 percent. Both are Republicans.

Commissioner Bill Schulte is stepping down and will be replaced by Republican Bobby Jackson who won with 56 percent over Independent Bob Bozarth who took 44 percent of the votes.

Lewis County Fire District 3 in Mossyrock saw 63 percent support for its proposal to fund construction of a new fire station with as much as $1.4 million in bonds.

The Napavine-based Lewis County Fire District 5 failed to get at least 60 percent support for an emergency medical services levy. A majority of voters said yes (56 percent), but it wasn’t enough to pass.

See all the final results for Lewis County here
•••

For background, read:

• “A second Chehalis attorney hoping for outgoing Lewis County judge’s seat” from Tuesday July 26, 2016, here

• “Judge Brosey eyes retirement, Chehalis lawyer to seek election to the court” from Wednesday March 30, 2016, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A jury took less than a half hour today to find an Onalaska woman guilty of nine counts of  animal cruelty in connection with horses seized from her this past spring.

Jennifer Jenkins will be sentenced at a date yet to be scheduled, according to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.

Tuesday April 5, 2016

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said Jenkins testified on her own behalf during the two-day trial in Lewis County District Court, but the six-person jury didn’t “buy it.”

Back in April responders were called to Jenkins’ home on the 2500 block of state Route 508 because a small horse had fallen onto its side into a mud hole in her pen. Two and a half hours later it was finally lifted out, but the next day, Jenkins was arrested.

A Lewis County Sheriff’s Office report said the state veterinarian noted deplorable living conditions and said the animals were in serious need of medical attention.

Meagher said the issue was about inadequate shelter, food or water.

A veterinarian testified the horses had very low body condition scores, Meagher said. The hay they were being fed was not of good quality and while there was a barn on the property, it was filled with wood, he said.

Jenkins was represented by Centralia attorney David Brown.

Jenkins this afternoon said the proceedings were confusing and not what she expected.

“I thought we’d be able to put on my side of the evidence, but we didn’t,” she said.

The 45-year-old woman said she began showing horses when she was small and grew up with them.

She said she’d arranged for a friend to feed and take care of the animals while she and her son were away for four days, but when she got back, the field was muddy and animal feed had been stolen. She disputes the body condition scores.

“I was using portable shelters, but they’re always being torn down,” she said.

Jenkins said she is disabled from the effects of a traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury.

“It is what is is,” she said. “I don’t know what it’s all about; it’s just confusing.”

The offenses are violations of Lewis County code and are gross misdemeanors with maximum penalties of 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Meagher said Judge R.W. Buzzard ordered a pre-sentencing investigation to be conducted and will set a date for sentencing.
•••

For background, read “Onalaska horse owner pleads not guilty, vet notes ‘deplorable’ conditions” from Friday April 8, 2016, here

Anyone who has seen Kris Fowler is asked to phone Yakima County Sheriff’s Office at 509-574-2535.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Searchers are on the ground looking for a Pacific Crest Trail hiker who hasn’t checked in or been heard from in almost three weeks, when he left a convenience store near White Pass.

Kris Fowler began his trek five and a half months ago in Mexico and is heading north to Snoqualmie Pass, according to the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office. His trail name is “Sherpa”.

Search and Rescue Coordinator Sgt. Randy Briscoe said he’s got teams out on the trail today.

Yesterday he had help from citizens in Packwood who made the 26-mile hike from White Pass to Chinook Pass,” he said.

“Folks in Packwood are organizing another search from Snoqualmie to Chinook Pass, I’m told,” Briscoe said this morning.

Fowler, who is 34 years old according to his step mother, lives near her in the Dayton, Ohio area. He started his travels with a college friend but they agreed they may or may not stick together the entire way, Sally Guyton Fowler said.

“He and I had a deal we’d keep in touch,” Guyton Fowler said. “I talked to him the end of September and he texted a friend on Oct. 12.”

By the end of last week she and his father began to get worried, she said.

The family reached out to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office on Friday and a deputy checked the area and then learned Fowler had been at the Cracker Barrel store on U.S. Highway 12 near White Pass on Oct. 12, according to the sheriff’s office.

The minimart is on the east side of the county line, so they notified the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office of the information they had, as well as Pierce County.

Sgt. Briscoe said he was notified on Sunday of the possibly missing hiker.

Briscoe said he learned Fowler had been to the store on Oct. 10, asked for a ride into Packwood to get supplies and then returned to the store two days later. He was last seen walking out of the Cracker Barrel at 3 p.m. on Oct. 12, he said.

“He told the clerk he was going to proceed to Snoqualmie Pass,” Briscoe said.

Briscoe said he has aircraft ready to go, but yesterday and this morning, they were grounded because of the weather.

There’s been no activity on Fowler’s cell phone, he said.

Briscoe said the trail from White Pass to Snoqualmie Pass is 102 miles, he’s told. His step mother said he’d previously been moving 20 to 25 miles each day.

There was a terrible storm on Oct. 14, so Fowler could have decided to hunker down, Briscoe said.

“Maybe he’s not overdue, maybe he’s just trudging through and we’ll see him come out,” Briscoe said.

Meanwhile, sheriff’s office’s in Pierce and Kittitas counties have been notified and Briscoe is trying to get as many people and agencies along the route involved as he can.

Fowler is 6-foot 2-inches tall and 150 pounds, with blond hair and a modest beard.

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Bruce Kimsey said this morning that one of his sergeants learned from the Cracker Barrel clerk that Fowler also made a comment about maybe going to Naches to get work at a winery.

“She felt he headed north though,” Kimsey said.

Guyton Fowler was getting on a plane today and plans to stay at the Packwood Inn.

“They want me there in support, in case he needs medical attention,” she said.

A Facebook page has been set up to share information about Fowler. It is called “Bring Kris Fowler/Sherpa Home“