Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – There’s no guarantee a Mossyrock father will survive surgery for a stab wound to his neck while his “crazy” girlfriend is being held in a padded jail cell today.

Law enforcement responded yesterday to a 911 hangup call and another reporting a person was stabbed at the trailer park on the 200 block of Mossyrock Road West.

An arriving deputy saw Brian Slater with his right hand near his neck and waving at him with his other hand, according to court documents. His entire head was leaning to his right.

“Slater said his crazy girlfriend Grace Barker had stabbed him,” Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher wrote in the affidavit of probable cause.

Slater was transported to Morton General Hospital where medical staff said the wound was very deep, and was subsequently flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

He was alert and able to converse with a law enforcement officer sent to interview him, but reportedly had a punctured right lung and also a “jugular hematoma”.

Grace E. Barker, 26, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail yesterday afternoon. She was charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with first-degree assault and scheduled to go before a judge at 4 p.m.

She was not present for the planned hearing.

Defense attorney Joely O’Rourke told the judge she tried meeting with Barker earlier.

“They have her in holding, in a padded cell,” O’Rourke said.

Several people, including jail staff, mental health persons and O’Rourke tried to talk with her, but Barker wouldn’t speak or even respond, O’Rourke said.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Nelson told Judge Richard Brosey the state had concerns for her mental health as well.

Judge Brosey ordered her continued detention with a no-bail hold. But he made it clear she would have to come to his courtroom tomorrow afternoon, unless a mental health professional told him she was incapable of doing so.

Charging documents indicate Barker is the mother of Slater’s 10-month-old child, and while the two no longer live together, she’s homeless and he let’s her stay at his place.

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jeremy Almond was the one to confront Barker yesterday, as she came walking fast around one side of the residence toward him.

She was holding a cigarette and yelling, and continued to advance when Almond ordered her to ground. He kicked her in the chest to put distance between them, holstered his pistol, drew his Taser and eventually handcuffed her, according to charging documents.

Morton Police Department Chief Roger Morningstar reported a comment Barker made while enroute to the jail.

“So what I tried to kill him. I tried to kill him, sometimes you have to do what’s right,” Meagher wrote in the court documents.

The documents offer the following account of what Slater told law enforcement.

He said he was arguing with Barker, trying to get her to leave, and she was acting unstable.

She armed herself with a knife, he armed himself with a knife, and he tried to back down the hallway.

“Slater said he thought Barker had thrown her knife down, so he threw his in the bathroom,” Meagher wrote. “Then Barker came up to him and jabbed him in the throat with the knife.”

Slater told a questioning trooper he begged her to get help, saying he “didn’t want to die like this.” He said he then ran outside and found a friend who called 911.

First-degree assault is a class A felony with a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The start of the rescue from the mud. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Fire District 1

Updated at 8:23 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – It took several individuals quite a bit of time to hoist a young horse from where it was found partially submerged in saturated ground in Onalaska yesterday.

“The horse was laying on its side, buried in thick mud and manure, and was shaking and shivering,” Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Cmdr. Dusty Breen said.

The 911 call about 1 p.m. to property along the 2500 block of state Route 508 came from a neighbor, Breen said. The owner had gone to a veterinarian to try to get help, he said, but they told her they couldn’t.

Breen this morning said he didn’t know how long the animal was stuck there that way.

A deputy who is assigned to work with county code enforcement responded.

Lewis County Fire District 1 Chief Andrew Martin said those present had made some sort of efforts to free the horse before asking the fire department for assistance.

He ended up summoning five more fire department volunteers.

They worked in mud that reached to the fire chief’s knees, using straps tied off to a post to ratchet the animal up, and slid boards beneath it. The operation wasn’t finished until about two and a half hours after the initial call, Martin said.

“A bystander named Chance jumped in to help,” he said, noting the good fortune to have someone he called a good animal wrangler present.

The horse is owned by a 44-year-old woman. Martin said he thought she was among those at the scene, but wasn’t sure.

They cleaned out quite a bit of mud from the one eye that had been facing downward and got it blankets, he said.

The animal had several abrasions and lacerations that neither Martin or Breen knew the cause of.

Cmdr. Breen this morning was waiting for an update on the horse’s condition. The owner’s vet and a vet from the state were both supposed to examine it today.

The sheriff’s office and code enforcers are investigating, according to Breen.

“The pen was mud, that’s the area that concerns us,” Breen said. “Under the RCW, if you fail to give proper living conditions, that can be an issue.”

There were a handful of other horses in another area nearby, on firmer ground, according to Breen.

Whether the situation involved any criminal issue or something else, Breen couldn’t say.

“We investigate a lot of issues,” he said. “There’s sometimes a fine line between people saying, ‘I wouldn’t treat my animal that way’ and the law being violated.”

Update from 7:46 p.m. from Lewis County Sheriff’s Office:

“This afternoon, Lewis County Sheriff’s deputies arrested horse owner, Jennifer Jenkins, of Onalaska for nine counts of Cruelty to Animals. Jenkins was booked into the LCSO Jail on the probable cause charges, while deputies served a search warrant at her property. Deputies along with LC Code Enforcement officers and a Washington State Veterinarian proceeded to rescue and remove nine horses from the property.”

The horse stands up. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Fire District 1

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Mossyrock man whose gunfire while deputies were outside his home drew a SWAT response over the weekend pleaded not guilty yesterday to fourth-degree assault, reckless endangerment and third-degree malicious mischief in Lewis County District Court.

When James C. Long was arrested early Sunday morning after a standoff that began on Saturday night, he was also booked for a violation of the firearms sales and transfers law for using his girlfriend’s gun, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

However, a judge did not find there was probable cause to hold him for that charge.

It was the first time the sheriff’s office had made an arrest for a violation of the law that went into effect in December 2014, following the passage of Initiative I-594, according to sheriff’s Cmdr. Dusty Breen.

The measure applied existing criminal and public safety background checks by licensed dealers to all firearm sales and transfers, including gun shows and online sales, with certain exceptions.

Shortly after the controversial law was enacted, Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer and Lewis County Sheriff-Elect Rob Snaza announced they had no interest in portions of the law as it relates to transfers and otherwise law abiding citizens.

The events on Naylor Road southeast of Mossyrock began with a domestic argument over a malfunctioning heater and escalated when Long’s girlfriend found him with her revolver, tried to get it from him, and was shoved, according to the sheriff’s office.

She left and called 911 from a neighbor’s and her 73-year-old mother went back inside the house.

The sheriff’s office said Long fired multiple shots as his girlfriend was leaving. And after two deputies arrived, and were positioned on each side of the house, more rounds were fired, according to Breen.

Breen said the deputies heard the shots, with one deputy estimating it was three shots.

“He had broken out the window, we believe he had fired out the window,” Breen said. “But its a heavily wooded area and we weren’t able to find a clear path of the rounds.”

Nobody was struck by the gunfire and deputies fired no shots.

Breen said Long had been talking with them, but threw his phone outside and told the deputies to come get him.

They did. The 61-year-old was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

Long requested a court appointed lawyer at his hearing on Monday before Judge Wade Samuelson. His bail was set at $10,000.

Once an attorney files a notice of appearance on Long’s behalf, a pre-trial hearing will be set.
•••

For background, read “SWAT team summoned after armed Mossy man tells deputies to come and get him,” from Sunday April 3, 2016, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 28-year-old former Morton man was allowed release on an unsecured bond yesterday following his weekend arrest for the alleged kidnapping of his girlfriend.

Aaron D. Ingalsbe was taken into custody early on Sunday morning, several hours after police were called by a relative at Gus Backstrom Park in Morton who said she saw the two arguing, saw him hit her with a cell phone and then force the crying girlfriend into his truck and drive away.

Ingalsbe was located by a trooper and Morton police and booked into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree kidnapping and fourth-degree assault. Prosecutors yesterday however filed charges of unlawful imprisonment and fourth-degree assault.

Morton police in a brief summary of the incident indicate Ingalsbe had taken off with “a female and two children” who were found safe near Mossyrock.

Charging documents state that when an officer contacted the girlfriend, she said they’d been in Morton for a family thing.

She lives in Selah and Ingalsbe resides in Yakima.

She said they’d been getting ready to leave, she wanted to use the restroom first and he told her, “No, get in the f*ing truck,” according to charging documents.

The girlfriend told police he’d driven down a long winding road, dropped her off and left, but as she flagged someone down, he returned and forced her back into the truck.

Charging documents reflect the officer observing a bruise on her arm and also on her side. She said Ingalsbe punched her in the kidney, dragged her by the hair and poured vegetable oil over her.

“(She) said Aaron’s plan was to leave her in the woods and then go back to Selah and burn down her house,” Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher wrote.

Once they got back to where they were camping on someone’s property in Mossyrock, he went to sleep and she went to tell someone what happened, the documents state.

Yesterday afternoon, when Ingalsbe was brought before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court, defense attorney Joely O’Rourke asked he be released on $20,000 unsecured bond, co-signed by an aunt who was in the courtroom.

Ingalsbe is employed in Yakima and supports three children, O’Rourke said.

Judge Richard Brosey agreed.

O’Rourke said her client said he’d been in town to spread the ashes of his mother and brother.

His arraignment is scheduled for April 14.

Michael A. Hedges appears in Lewis County Superior Court this afternoon for a bail hearing.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Bail was set at $50,000 today for a man believed to be the nighttime intruder a 66-year-old Centralia woman woke up to find standing over her bed early yesterday morning.

The victim told police she heard him unzip his pants, then he grabbed her hand and placed it on his private parts.

She got him to leave and following the approximately 2 a.m. call to 911, officers located a bald and shirtless man hiding in a shed at an adjacent trailer park, according to court documents.

Michael A. Hedges, 43, of Chehalis, was brought before a judge today in Lewis County Superior Court, charged with three offenses.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Nelson asked for the bail given the nature of the allegations. Judge Richard Brosey  agreed.

Hedges sported a bandage on the right side of his forehead. Centralia police said he fell head first onto the ground; he told a doctor the police hit him with a flashlight, according to charging documents.

The events yesterday took place at a home on the  600 block of Nick Road,according to the Centralia Police Department.

Responding officers found the victim shaking and “almost tearful”, according to court documents.

Charging documents give the following account of what police learned and what took place:

The woman told police she immediately yanked her hand back and demanded to know who he was and what he was doing.

“She told him he had the wrong house and had to leave,” and she followed him to the front door.

An officer found a hat and hoodie lying on the front porch, and later a neighbor found a nylon bag behind her carport, which contained male clothes, toiletry items and a pill bottle with the suspect’s name on it.

The victim identified the arrested suspect as her intruder.

While being escorted to a patrol car, Hedges allegedly bolted from one officer, toward another, who reached out and grabbed him. Police reported this caused him to lose his balance and fall, causing a bump to his forehead.

Hedges was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital, and when the doctor asked if he had been drinking, tried to spit in the doctor’s face. His mouth was too dry and no spit came out.

Hedges was charged today with first-degree burglary with sexual motivation, as well as indecent liberties-forcible compulsion. Both have a maximum penalty of life in prison.

He was also charged with third-degree assault.

His court file shows a residential address on Nix Lane. He was most recently released from prison in July 2010.

Hedge’s prior convictions include first-degree theft, forgery and theft of rental property in 2008, drug possession in 2003 and numerous property crimes going back to 1996, according to court documents. In 2014, he was convicted of fourth-degree domestic violence assault.

Centralia lawyer David Arcuri was appointed to represent Hedges.

Deputy Prosecutor Nelson also asked the judge to order the defendant have no contact with and stay at least 500 feet from the 66-year-old woman and her home.

His arraignment is scheduled for Thursday in Lewis County Superior Court.

Updated

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A standoff with a 61-year-old man continued over several hours last night, after he allegedly shoved his live-in girlfriend and then twice fired multiple rounds at his home outside of Mossyrock.

Law enforcement officers eventually deployed pepper spray munitions into the house as well as other diversionary devices and SWAT members entered and took him into custody, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

James C. Long was booked into the Lewis County Jail around 7 o’clock this morning for several offenses.

It happened at the 100 block of Naylor Road, southeast of Mossyrock.

Deputies called about 8:20 p.m. were told of a family dispute in which he and his 52-year-old girlfriend had been arguing about a heater malfunctioning, according to Cmdr. Dusty Breen.

She said she heard him acting strangely in another room and a short time later, found him with her revolver, according to Breen. When she tried to get the gun from him, she was reportedly pushed.

The frightened woman and her mother decided to flee the home and as they did, they heard Long fire multiple rounds.

Breen said deputies were told she went back to see if Long harmed himself, and he hadn’t, and for some reason the 73-year-old mother went back inside the home. The girlfriend called 911 from a neighbor’s.

When deputies arrived, there was a short dialogue with Long, who then fired multiple rounds out of the house, according to Breen. He then told deputies to come and get him, Breen said.

Breen didn’t say where Long was aiming with the gunfire, but noted nobody was struck and deputies fired no shots.

Additional personnel were summoned, including Lewis County Regional SWAT members.

Breen said officers were able to get the 73 year old mother to come to the front door and then rush her to safety.

Lewis County Fire District 3 was put on standby.

“The standoff with Long continued over several hours and he did not comply with negotiators to come out of the residence,” Breen wrote in an email.

Eventually, after Long was apprehended, he was escorted to the waiting firefighters and then transported to Morton General Hospital to be evaluated.

He was arrested and booked for fourth-degree assault, reckless endangerment, third-degree malicious mischief and a violation of the firearms sales and transfers law for taking his girlfriend’s gun, according to Breen.