Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office detectives are looking for help in solving a burglary in which an 83-year-old Glenoma man lost thousands of dollars worth of cash, firearms and presumably irreplaceable belongings including a silver Russian KGB wrist watch.

It was almost two weeks ago, on Sunday April 5, when somebody got into his home through an unsecured door at the 8300 block of U.S. Highway 12 and stole 10 handguns and other valuables, according to the sheriff’s office.

Among the property missing are more than 150 pictures circa 1900s in a mahogany box, as well as an antique stereoscope, according to Chief Deputy Bruce Kimsey.

Also taken was $6,500 in cash and two half-karat diamond rings.

The total loss is estimated at more than $14,000.

Lewis County Crime Stoppers is hoping for tips.

If anyone knows anything about the location of the stolen property or who is responsible for taking it, they are asked to please call right away.

Crime Stoppers pays up to $1,000 for information leading to the clearance of crimes. Anonymous calls can be made to 1-800-748-6422 or information may be shared online at www.lewiscountycrimestoppers.org

The missing items include:

• Ruger 44 magnum revolver
• Smith and Wesson 22 caliber revolver
• Two High Standard 22 caliber pistols
• Two Iver Johnson 32 caliber revolvers
• Two Argentine 45 caliber pistols
• Savage 32 caliber pistol
• Stevens 22 caliber revolver
• Boker Gaucho hunting knife
• German Linder hunting knife
• Leupold hunting knife
• A German hunting knife
• Croton wrist watch
• Phase-of-the-moon wrist watch
• Wrist watch
• Another $1,500 worth of jewelry
• Two Exakta 35 mm cameras, with a 2.0 lens and a 2.8 lens

Laveta Arnold shares the defense table with her husband James Arnold as the two go before Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Onalaska couple arrested in February after police cleaned out what was described as an elaborate indoor garden with more than 600 marijuana plants at their Griel Road property were each given 30 days in jail yesterday.

James L. Arnold and Laveta L. Arnold told officers they’d been growing personal medicinal marijuana for more than 15 years, but during the past five were selling it for profit, generating approximately $136,000 per year, according to court documents.

Centralia police contended the money financed numerous safari trips to Africa to hunt large trophy animals and paid for various assets which were all seized.

A plea deal was worked out in which a charge of money laundering was dropped. The couple, ages 55 and 52, have no previous criminal history, and have been free on bail since two days after they were jailed.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello said the maximum penalty of five years in prison and the standard sentencing range for their remaining offenses were the same as for felony possession of drugs.

Yesterday morning, in Lewis County Superior Court, the Arnolds pleaded guilty to manufacture of marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to to deliver.

The standard range is zero to six months in the county jail. Masiello and defense attorneys made an agreed recommendation to the judge they each serve 30 days.

Their lawyer Keith Hall told the judge the Arnolds understood they needed to take responsibility and wanted to put it behind them.

Judge James Lawler said it was a difficult case, because of the magnitude of it.

He said he’d looked over numerous letters of support, and in doing so, saw how much of a double life they were leading.

“That confirms to me people can project what they want to, while at the same time doing something extraordinarily illegal,” Lawler said.

Four rows of benches on each side of the small courtroom were nearly filled with family and friends during the morning hearing.

The judge explained that his usual method of deciding a sentence is starting at the middle of the range and then looking for reasons to give more time or less time.

“The fact you’ve been involved in the community and done a lot of things is a basis to go down,” he said. “The nature and extent of this is a reason to go up.”

The Arnolds were active in the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue program. She is a master gardner, according to Hall.

Lawler said he would go along with what the lawyers negotiated. Neither of the Arnolds chose to make any statement on their own behalf.

The judge agreed that while Laveta Arnold was taken into custody after the hearing, James Arnold could wait to check into jail on May 12.

Masiello asked for and was granted an order assessing them each $1,900 in various fees, minus a portion based on the plea negotiations.

Lawler reminded them both they’ve lost their right to use, own or possess firearms, as is customary with felony convictions.

“You would be committing another felony,” he said. “The sentence for illegal possession of a firearm is far worse than what you’re facing here today, so don’t mess with that.”

The case began at the end of last year as an investigation into a money laundering operation by the Centralia Police Department’s Anti-Crime Team and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Police said James Arnold was a vice president of a medical marijuana dispensary in the Olympia area called Urban Medicinals as well as another location in the Tacoma area. The couple owns a business called Alpha Marine Installations based at their Onalaska home.

Centralia police said after the arrests, the case would also be referred to the Internal Revenue Service for investigation of possible tax fraud and to state authorities for business tax evasion.

Besides the plants, when police and deputies served the search warrant, they seized more than 40 pounds of marijuana processed and packaged  for sale with a street value of at least $2,000 per pound; five vehicles including a 1948 Ford hot rod pickup and a 1969 Chevy Corvette; 33 guns included hunting rifles, assault rifles and handguns; and approximately 30 mounted animal heads.

Centralia police said James Arnold admitted to purchasing all or part of the vehicles with the proceeds.

Kent-based lawyer Hall said now that the criminal case is done, he and his partner Bradley G. Barshis will work on the civil forfeiture case being handled by the city of Centralia’s attorney.

“The way that works is they take everything, and you have a right to ask for a hearing to contest it,” he said.

The state medical marijuana law allows for up to 15 plants or 24 ounces for a qualifying patient.

And Initiative 502 passed by voters in November 2012 allows recreational use by adults and set up rules under which those obtaining a state license may cultivate and package cannabis and related products.

Any applicant for a county business license in unincorporated Lewis County however would need to provide approval from the federal government, which still outlaws marijuana. The county has issued no licenses to grow marijuana.
•••

For background, read “Onalaska illegal marijuana enterprise case headed toward plea deal instead of trial” from Friday April 3, 2015, here

Firefighters found the roof burning when they arrived to a house fire on the 100 block of Hideaway Hills Lane on Monday morning. / Courtesy photo

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The fire that destroyed the home of a mother and two teenage children east of Centralia was caused by a cigarette put into a soil-filled planter on the front porch that smoldered for hours, before the planter itself caught fire and began burning the siding near the front door.

Flames crawled up the wall, into the attic and then burned the roof off the 1,900 square-foot house, according to Fire Investigator Derrick Paul.

Paul said he’s seen it at least once before, and has also watched during training, how purchased potting soil products – not just ordinary dirt – will ignite.  Some of the components are flammable, he said.

Members of four fire departments arrived early Monday morning after a barking dog alerted the occupants before their smoke alarms sounded.

Nobody was hurt and Paul said it was his understanding all the pets made it out fine.

The residence, built in 2000, is at the 100 block of Hideaway Hills Lane and owned by TransAlta. The tenants did not have renter’s insurance, according to Paul.

He said crews did a good job of stopping the fire, and some of the contents possibly may be salvageable.
•••

For background, read “News brief: Fire claims Centralia area home” from Monday April 13, 2015, here

Allyson N. Reed goes before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court for a bail hearing.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – When a police officer asked the 33-year-old Chehalis office manager if she had any idea where several thousand dollars of missing funds from her workplace had gone, she said she did not.

When the officer then explained that her boss had showed him copies of checks written by her and cashed by her totaling more than $70,000 over and above her normal paychecks, the mother of two looked at the ground and started to cry.

She said she’d gotten behind on her bills and didn’t realize she’d taken that much money.

So say charging documents in the case of Allyson N. Reed, also known as Allyson N. Fuller.

Reed was charged on Monday in Lewis County Superior Court with first-degree theft.

Chehalis police say an officer responded last week to Northwest Heating and Cooling on Southwest Chehalis Avenue regarding the discovery of money missing from the business. Police department spokesperson Linda Bailey said it appeared it occurred over the past five months.

According to charging documents, the company’s owner Wesley Floyd had looked at the accounts after another employee told him he had seen an order for some gift cards and thought it was odd.

Floyd noticed that several checks were issued to Reed, his officer manager, that he didn’t recall writing, some even while he was out of the state, according to documents.

Reed earned about $16 per hour, getting paid once a week, accounting for about 20 of the checks, the documents state, but Floyd found another 147 checks totaling about $72,000, according to the documents.

The Centralia woman was arrested on Friday and booked into the Lewis County Jail.

Charging documents state that before she was taken away, but after she arranged for childcare, she said she wanted to talk with her boss.

Reed told Floyd her parents would pay him back $60,000 to not press charges, the documents state. He said he wouldn’t take their money.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher told a judge on Monday afternoon the charges included two aggravating factors: that it was a major economic offense and that she used her position of trust, confidence or fiduciary responsibility to carry out the alleged crime.

The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison and/or a $20,000 fine.

Meagher in requesting bail noted Reed had 10 convictions in 2006 for false identity and controlled substance violations. Temporary defense attorney Joely O’Rourke argued the offenses were 10 years old and that Reed has resided in Centralia her entire life.

Judge R.W. Buzzard set bail at $10,000.

He was told Reed plans to hire a lawyer. Her arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

Casey Henderling and Nikki Warner quickly leave the courtroom after talking with the judge about the cremation of their dead toddler.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – It took less than 10 minutes for a judge to help the parents of a toddler whose body has been stored at the county morgue for months to come to agreement today about which funeral home can be called to handle his cremation.

Three-year-old Jasper Henderling-Warner died Oct. 5 from what the coroner calls battered child syndrome and is the victim in an ongoing criminal case involving a couple who had taken him into their Vader home.

Jasper Henderling-Warner

Jasper’s unmarried parents initially agreed to have the child cremated at Steele Chapel in Longview, and the services have been paid for, according to Lewis County Civil Attorney David Fine. But the mother Nikki Warner changed her mind and told the coroner she wanted him taken care of by a funeral home in Battleground where she would hold the memorial service.

At the end of January, Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod was notified he no longer had to hold Jasper for a possible second autopsy for the criminal case. Two weeks later, after failing to get the parents to agree on the same mortuary, McLeod filed a request in Lewis County Superior Court, asking for a judge to intervene.

Warner and Casey Henderling sat next to each other this afternoon, in front of Judge James Lawler.

Warner told the judge what she wanted, and told him she had custodial rights before her son’s death.

“As I understand it, we’re not talking about the memorial service here, only the cremation,” Lawler said.

“You still agree the ashes are to be divided between you, right?” the judge asked.

Both answered affirmatively.

Lawler told the two parents he was only trying to understand what difference it makes where the cremation takes place.

“I’m not trying to twist your arm,” he said. “Just trying to understand. Make sure you understand.”

Warner agreed they could use the funeral home in Longview.

Coroner McLeod indicated he would phone Steele Chapel within the next 10 minutes and arrange for the child’s body to be picked up.

The Vader couple accused in the death both remain held in the Lewis County Jail.

Danny A. Wing, 26, has pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. His wife Brenda Wing, 27, awaits trial. She is charged with homicide by abuse or, in the alternative, first-degree manslaughter, as either the principal or accomplice.
•••

For background, read “Toddler’s body still at morgue more than five months after death” from Wednesday March 18, 2015, here

Michael J. Dobbs is led back down to the jail after a bail setting hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Police believe a 47-year-old man forged a will making himself the sole heir of a Chehalis man who died, posed as his relative and took over his house, personal property and car.

Michael J. Dobbs, from Centralia, has been under investigation since last September when relatives of Walter Pettit went to Pettit’s home near Chehalis Middle School and  found it had been cleaned out and someone was remodeling it. Pettit was 55 when he passed away in January of last year, according to police.

Dobbs was arrested for theft and forgery but subsequently charged only with possession of methamphetamine, based on a baggie of meth found. At the time, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Eric Eisenberg said further investigation needed to be conducted regarding the authenticity of the will.

Since then, a Chehalis Police Department detective has gotten Pettit’s purported signature on the document compared with his signature card at his bank by the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab, which concluded the signature on the will does not appear to be Pettit’s, according to Eric Eisenberg. The name is also misspelled, according to Eisenberg.

In addition, an individual who supposedly signed as witness, was shown the will and said she recalled signing a document, but not the one she was shown, Eisenberg said.

Dobbs was booked into the Lewis County Jail last week, and went before a judge where his bail was set at $20,000, plus another $20,000 for a bail jumping charge.

According to court documents, he pleaded guilty to the drug possession and was supposed to serve 30 days on electronic home monitoring, but vanished.

Dobbs was described as a full time parent of three children when he appeared in court in September. Court documents show his address on Centralia College Boulevard.

He is charged with first-degree theft, forgery, theft of a motor vehicle and also false statement to transfer title. The charges were filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Feb. 10.

Charging documents allege Dobbs pretended to be Pettit’s son when he transferred the man’s car into his own name, and told a funeral home he was Pettit’s nephew when they released Pettit’s cremated remains to him.

Court documents state that when asked about the dead man’s belongings, Dobbs offered several improbable stories about how they’d been stolen, returned and then stolen again.

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

Court papers indicate Dobbs has state IDs in Oregon and Maryland. He also has prior convictions in California, from the 1990s through 2001 for offenses such as spousal assault, burglary and receiving stolen property.
•••

For background, read “Centralia man questioned about dead man’s vehicle, home, belongings” from Friday Sept. 19, 2014, here

Andres F. Santiago, in red, appears with a lawyer before a judge for a bail hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.

Updated at 7:09 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 20-year-old Chehalis resident turned himself in yesterday, admitting to police he robbed a woman at the TwinStar Credit Union’s ATM machine two weeks ago.

Andres F. Santiago was booked into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree robbery, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

His arrest came the day after police arrested two younger males who reportedly were waiting in a car behind the bank.

The victim had gone to the 1500 block of South Market Boulevard to deposit a check in the ATM at about 9:15 p.m. on March 26. A male wearing a black bandana over his face approached her and said “empty all your cash,” but when she told him she had none, he demanded her cell phone, which she turned over, according to court documents.

James M. Rocha

Jean Gillmer was unhurt, according to police, but said the bandit showed her something in his waistband that was either the handle of a gun or a knife, according to authorities.

Earlier this week, Chehalis detective Jason Roberts was able to view security video from both sides of the building that showed what took place.

Detectives were led to their suspects by witnesses who saw a smaller, reddish oxidized car both before and after the event, according to charging documents. One of them who watched the car speed down 16th Street with its lights off took down its license plate numbers, according to the documents.

Police were able to “ping” the stolen cell phone, which helped them as well, Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said today.

The license plate led to a residence on Southwest 20th Street, where Roberts spoke with the registered owner and her teenage son on Wednesday, according to authorities. James M. Rocha, 18,  was arrested, according to Chehalis Police Department spokesperson Linda Bailey. Two detectives returned to the home later in the day and arrested a 15-year-old boy, Bailey said.

All are from Chehalis, according to police.

Charging documents state the 15-year-old told detectives he was there, but didn’t do anything. They also relate that Rocha admitted to being the driver of the car.

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

Charging documents offer some of the details, as follows:

The owners of Dairy Dan’s, a drive-in restaurant across the street from the credit union, saw a reddish car parked in their lot, and watched it head over to behind the credit union, without its headlights turned on.

Rocha told police Santiago said he needed to go to the bank, to pull out some money to buy his daughter clothes and diapers. He said they stopped at Dairy Dan’s, so Santiago could make  phone call, and Santiago asked him to  drop him at the bank and wait for him.

Rocha said he parked in the back. When Santiago came back, he told them he’d just robbed a girl, and showed the two males a knife he had in a black holster.

When Santiago turned himself in, he told detective Roberts he’d forced Rocha and the 15-year-old to drive him around, and he wanted them released because they didn’t do anything wrong.

He also told the detective he’d had a 9 mm handgun in the rear of his waistband that night.

Santiago was contacted by police yesterday, after they learned he wanted to talk with them, at a Cascade Mental health safe house.

Prosecutor Meagher said he’s not sure if the phone has been found.

The 15-year-old is being held at the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center on a probation violation, and has not yet been charged, according to Meagher.

Rocha, a graduate of W.F. West High School has a job, lives with his mother and has a 1-month-old baby. He has one juvenile felony from four years ago. His bail was set at $75,000 yesterday afternoon.

This afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court, defense attorney Joely O’Rourke asked for Santiago’s bail to be set at $25,000 and unsecured.

The unemployed father of a 7-month-old daughter has no felonies in his past, she said.

“He also turned himself in,” O’Rourke said.

She told the judge Santiago had recently gotten himself admitted into inpatient treatment to get help with drug addiction, and was working with Cascade Mental Health to “get back on track.”

Judge James Lawler set his bail at $100,000.

Santiago and Rocha both qualified for court-appointed attorneys. Their arraignments are set for next Thursday.
•••

For background, read “Shakedown at Chehalis ATM” from Friday March 27, 2015, here