Lewis County Sirens.com

Dustin Palermo’s security video captured images of three individuals heading for his front door.

Updated at 8:56 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – Police are looking for three males who barged into a Centralia home last night, demanded money and shot a dog.

Centralia police say one of the subjects fired a number of times at the pet, killing it but none of the residents were injured.

The suspects then fled and are still at large, according to the Centralia Police Department.

It happened about 10:35 p.m. on the 1200 block of Marion Street, at the north end of town, according to police.

Misty, the golden colored dog on the right, in a snapshot with Bruno.

Dustin Palermo said he and his girlfriend had just settled into bed to watch a movie, when he heard a thump on the door.

“My door’s flying open, these black men rush in, shooting guns, screaming,” he said. “They shot up my room and killed my dog.”

The 35-year-old Centralia native said they were shouting about money and weed and rummaging through things. He shoved his girlfriend into a corner and told her not to move, then pushed a jar of cannabis on the floor toward the intruders, he said.

They were in and out in about 30 seconds, but it seemed much longer, he said.

The firearm was described as a handgun.

Palermo said his two pit bulls were inside with him and his 25-year-old girlfriend. Misty was just protecting her family he said.

“The male, Bruno, he’s taking it pretty hard,” he said.

Detectives are working on the case.

Detective Patty Finch said they have no idea of the motive at this point.

“The victims don’t claim to know the suspects, there’s not a clear picture as to why they were targeted,” Finch said this afternoon.

They processed the scene, interviewed witnesses and recovered some shell casings. They’re not sure yet how many shots were fired, she said.

Palermo’s mother lives in the main house on the property, with his four children and three other of her grandchildren.

Pam Vasquez said she was out with a girlfriend, but the youngsters, ages 10 to 18, were upstairs in bed when it happened. She rushed home after getting a phone call and found several police cars there, their dog dead on the front porch.

“It was just crazy,” she said. “I never would have expected this, in Centralia.”

Palermo said he thinks one of the males was probably in his mid-20s, but has no idea who they were or why they came to his house.

The large extended family has lived on the property where Marion Street turns to Little Hanaford Road for about four years. His “house” is actually a roughly 300-square-foot shack Vasquez says was the original homestead. Palermo created a bedroom on one side.

On the other side, he has a small amount of medical marijuana growing, for himself and another patient, he said. The former Navy corpsman said he uses it for anxiety and chronic back pain. He came home from Iraq in 2003, he said.

But he didn’t feel like that’s why they were there, he said.

“I don’t know if it’s because we went to the casino the night before and won some money, I don’t know if it was random,” he said.

The family showed police their security video. Palermo looked at it again this morning.

It shows the men drive off in a small two-door car, almost like a Honda Accord or a Saturn, with a spoiler on the back, he said. Finch said the car was said to have a loud muffler.
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CORRECTION: This has been updated to reflect the correct time police were called.

Five friends work at installing a new front door late this afternoon.

The car seen leaving is described as a dark-colored passenger car with a loud exhaust.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – While a judge last month authorized the release of the body of a 3-year-old boy whose October death has been ruled a homicide, it remains at the Lewis County Coroner’s Office because the parents don’t agree on which funeral home to use.

Coroner Warren McLeod is asking a judge to intervene.

Jasper Henderling-Warner

“This is something we’ve never come across,” McLeod said. “All I want is for Jasper to be released so he can be at rest.”

Jasper Henderling-Warner died from what the coroner called chronic battered child syndrome. The Vader couple who were caring for him, Danny and Brenda Wing, remain jailed pending a trial.

McLeod said his office has been in contact with the child’s mother, Nikki Warner who lives in the Vancouver area and his father, Casey Henderling who resides in Kelso. They are not married. The two agree Jasper should be cremated and his ashes split between them, McLeod said.

She wants to use a mortuary in Battle Ground, he’s picked out one in Longview, he said.

McLeod said state law allows him to release a decedent to the surviving parents, but doesn’t specify anything further such as the parent who has custody. He’s holding on to the body until he knows which funeral home to turn it over to, he said.

Last week, McLeod filed a civil action in Lewis County Superior Court. McLeod on Tuesday said he understands the papers would be served upon each parent this week. Then they have 20 days to respond.

The mother told detectives she and the Wings agreed they would be his guardians for a year beginning at the end of July, that she was homeless and traveling out of state to look for work.

Jasper died Oct. 5; the Wings were arrested Nov. 7 and charged with homicide by abuse; or, in the alternative, first-degree manslaughter.

The coroner said his office kept the boy’s body following the autopsy, in case defense attorneys wanted to conduct a second examination, which sometimes happens. On Jan. 28, McLeod was notified he no longer had to hold Jasper for the criminal case.

He said his office has been in contact with Jasper’s parents by phone, by email and even tried to get them in a room together to settle their disagreement.

“We’ve gone as far as we can go, we’re at an impasse,” he said.

Centralia City Manager Rob Hill, wearing cap, huddles with the five finalists for police chief after a public gathering at the train depot.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – In suits, ties and shiny shoes, they chatted, shook hands and answered questions from a small number of people who came out to meet them last night; the five men hoping to become Centralia’s next chief of police.

The short meet and greet in a conference room at the Centralia train depot followed a day of interviews from one panel of department heads and another comprised of select members of the community.

Newly elected Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza said he was kind of excited to see who would end up getting the job.

“We’re fortunate to have this caliber of candidates,” Snaza said. “We’re all about us working together.”

Snaza was one of five who had spoken to the finalists earlier in the day. Joining him in the interviews were Jenny Collins, executive director of the Visiting Nurses Foundation; Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer; Lacey Police Department Chief Dusty Pierpont; and Centralia College Athletic Director Bob Peters.

Centralia City Manager Rob Hill likewise seemed enthusiastic about the quality of the individuals he has to choose from.

“I’m pretty confident our next chief will come out of this group,” Hill said.

Centralia Police Department Chief Bob Berg is retiring in May, after 11 years in the job. With assistance from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, the city began a nationwide search in December, and screened applications from 20 individuals.

The pay for the head of the department with 31 commissioned officers in Lewis County’s most populated city was advertised as between about $100,000 and $122,000.

Two of the group come from the banks of Lake Michigan.

James Held has been chief of the Lake Forest (Illinois) Police Department for almost three years, an organization with 40 sworn officers.

Thirty miles to the south, Lt. Maury Richards has been with the Chicago Police Department for 23 years.

Carl Nielsen is a captain, and second in command at the Turlock Police Department in California’s central valley.

Closer to home, Rod Baker comes from the Pierce Transit Police Department, which he created. Baker is on a yearlong sabbatical to get his degree in criminal justice administration

And from inside the Centralia Police Department, Cmdr. James Rich is hoping to become its next chief.

Rich, with 33 years of law enforcement experience, said the agency has made huge strides in the past 10 to 15 years. He wants to help see it continue down that path, he said.

Hill planned to conduct his interviews today, and expects to do his background checking in person, on one or more of his final choices, he said.

He has no set date for when he will make his decision, he said.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A casket was found wedged in a Lewis County creek over the weekend and authorities don’t yet know whether it contains a body.

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said he was notified of the discovery on Sunday night and waded out to take a look at it yesterday.

“We can’t tell if it’s occupied or not,” McLeod said.

The steel gray casket is partially submerged, the foot end driven into the creek bottom, almost as if deposited there by raging floodwaters, he said.

He’s meeting, probably tomorrow, with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue coordinator to make a plan to pull it out, he said.

He has no idea how long it’s been there.

McLeod said it is a creek off the Newaukum River, on private property, but wouldn’t disclose the location.

“I don’t want people going there,” he said.

It could be that it washed out of a burial spot on private property upstream or it could be something that someone owned and was never used, he said.

McLeod said he’s been making inquiries and is unaware of any public cemetery in the area, but he is checking with the county health department which would have registered any burials on private property.

The lid is damaged, he said, and it’s even a possibility any remains it contained have escaped. He won’t know until they retrieve it, he said.

McLeod said he has learned that steel caskets sometimes have a tube attached to the exterior, inside which a funeral director would have placed identifying documents if it had been used for a burial.

It was found by somebody who likes to fish on the Newaukum, and was out walking on a neighbor’s property checking out damage from the last flood, he said.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Police seized cars, trucks, firearms and a den full of mounted animal heads from an Onalaska couple who allegedly admitted using proceeds from an overgrown personal medicinal marijuana operation to generate approximately $136,000 per year.

When James L. Arnold and Laveta L. Arnold were contacted last week at their home on the 200 block of Griel Road, they told officers they’d been growing it for more than 15 years, but during the past five have been selling it for profit, according to the Centralia Police Department.

A search warrant was served last Thursday morning, with Centralia police, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputies and the SWAT Team.

They turned up more than 40 pounds of marijuana processed and packaged  for sale with a street value of at least $2,000 per pound, according to police. In a shop building, they located what police described as an elaborate indoor garden with 614 plants, according to police detective Patty Finch.

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

According to court documents, the couple initially agreed to cooperate with law enforcement, but a detective learned James Arnold was warning people he had said he’d help apprehend, and they were arrested on Tuesday.

The Arnolds were charged in Lewis County Superior Court with manufacture of marijuana, possession with intent to to deliver and with money laundering on Wednesday. Prosecutors contend it occurred within 1000 feet of school grounds and while armed with deadly weapons.

Detective Finch says the case will also be referred to the Internal Revenue Service for investigation of possible tax fraud and to state authorities for business tax evasion.

Bail was set at $25,000 for James and at $10,000 for Laveta. Their arraignments are scheduled for next Thursday at 3 p.m.

According to police and court documents, James, 55, owns Alpha Marine Installations based at the home, is a vice president of a medical marijuana dispensary in the Olympia area called Urban Medicinals as well as another location in the Tacoma area.

Among the five vehicles seized were a 1948 Ford hot rod pickup and a 1969 Chevy Corvette, according to Finch. The 33 guns included hunting rifles, assault rifles and handguns, Finch states.

Finch says Arnold admitted to purchasing all or part of the vehicles with proceeds from his marijuana growing operation, as well as financing numerous hunting safari trips to Africa to hunt large trophy animals.

Approximately 30 mounted animal heads were also taken from the home.

Law enforcement officers collected computers, personal and banking records and growing equipment along with some personal property and cell phones that all appear to be proceeds from the growing operation, according to Finch.

Court documents state Centralia Police Department’s Anti-Crime Team and the sheriff’s office opened a money laundering operation regarding the couple in between December and January, related to the sale of marijuana. Finch said in a news release last week’s search warrant followed several months of investigation.

The couple has no previous criminal history, according to their court files.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  The 22-year-old Adna man who dodged a real bullet less than two months ago got a deal from prosecutors in his drug cases that subsequently arose, but will be going away for awhile.

Phillip A. Pinotti was initially charged with first-degree assault for allegedly trying to run down a security officer who chased him out of a Centralia courtroom and down to the next block where he was parked. The officer, who had been trying to take him into custody for a misdemeanor warrant, said he fired his gun once because he thought the escapee was trying to hit him.

Phillip A. Pinotti, file photo

Investigations and evaluations by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, the county prosecutor, an internal review board and the Centralia police chief since the events of Dec. 16 led to a very different understanding of what occurred.

Prosecutors concluded Pinotti wasn’t attempting to harm Centralia Municipal Court Security Officer Stephen Howard, so instead of an offense with a maximum penalty of life in prison, Pinotti was allowed to plead guilty to three misdemeanors and was sentenced to time served.

Howard resigned after the police chief released a report criticizing him for his actions and decision making.

But in the midst of the various reviews, and while Pinotti was out on bail, he was arrested and charged with drug crimes, one new and one from last summer.

Pinotti pleaded guilty to two felonies, both involving heroin, and he appeared before a judge yesterday to be sentenced in Lewis County Superior Court.

He faced a standard sentencing range for delivery of heroin of 12 to 20 months in prison.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher and defense attorney Don Blair both agreed to recommend to the judge that Pinotti serve 12 months and one day.

Blair told Judge Nelson Hunt his client didn’t dispute he delivered heroin, that he was a drug addict and hopefully will remain drug free.

“When he gets out, he can start getting cleaned up,” Blair said.

When asked by the judge if he wanted to make a statement on his own behalf beyond what his lawyer had shared: “No thank you, your honor,” Pinotti said. “I have nothing to add.”

Meager asked that he be given four months to be served concurrently for possession of heroin from last August.

Judge Hunt agreed with all of it, including numerous fees and court costs as well as one year of supervision after he is released.

Also yesterday morning, Zachary J. Maurer pleaded guilty in connection with the August incident.

Police had the two of them under surveillance as they went to Longview to allegedly purchase heroin and subsequently impounded their vehicle finding drugs, according to court documents.

Like Pinotti, Maurer’s charge of  possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver was lowered to a charge of possession of heroin.

Meagher said the plea deal came about in part because they couldn’t get either one to testify against the other and also because police preferred they didn’t pursue it to protect the identity of an informant.

Maurer, 25, was given a middle of the range of sentence of 18 months. Meagher said it was longer than Pinotti’s for the same offense, because Maurer had some previous convictions on his record.
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For background, read “Centralia court security officer who fired upon escapee quits job” from Tuesday February 10, 2015, here

Updated at 1:29 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Centralia Municipal Court Security Officer Stephen Howard submitted his resignation effective today, just days after Police Chief Bob Berg issued his report indicating Howard’s use of deadly force on a person fleeing detainment on a misdemeanor warrant was inappropriate.

Berg’s findings released Thursday regarding the mid-December incident made clear Howard should not have unholstered his gun, nor even left his post to pursue the 22-year-old Adna man.

Phillip Pinotti was struck by the broken glass from his car window, but not by the bullet that was later found on his passenger seat.

In a news release distributed this morning, Berg states the resignation means any personnel issues regarding the shooting are now closed.

The chief noted that he appreciates Howard’s service to the community and his long term commitment to the law enforcement profession.

“In terms of moving forward, there are lessons the department has learned regarding policies and procedures as well as training and documentation for individuals assigned to this duty,” Berg stated.

Howard, a retired California Highway Patrol officer, had been employed by the city for just short of four months when the incident occurred. He worked one day each week, as a limited commission officer.

A review by the county prosecutor found Howard’s firing of his weapon was not unlawful, but an internal shooting review board concluded it was a violation of department policy.

Howard said he fired his gun once because he thought Pinotti was trying to run him down with his car, but the prosecutor, the shooting review board and the police chief, in varying degrees, indicated they didn’t believe that’s what happened.

It was the morning of Dec. 16 when Pinotti slipped away as Howard was handcuffing him in Centralia Municipal Court and ran to the next block where his car was parked on Maple Street, got inside of it and locked his door. Witnesses described Howard striking the window with his gun, something Howard said he didn’t recall happening.

Chief Berg wrote in his determination last week, that based on the physical evidence, such as the trajectory of the bullet and statements from witnesses, it was quite possible the gun’s discharge was accidental.

Howard was put on administrative leave while the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office investigated the shooting. Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer issued his conclusions on Jan. 7.

The internal review board – called both the Use of Force Review Board and the Shooting Review Board – met on Jan. 13 and forwarded its recommendations to the police chief on Jan. 23.

Berg said Howard returned to work on Jan. 20, following the completion of the criminal investigation by the prosecuting attorney.

Pinotti pleaded guilty to third-degree escape and two related misdemeanors on Jan. 14.

Last Thursday when the chief issued his determinations about Howard’s actions, he noted a personnel decision would be made after a discussion with Howard; it’s not clear whether the two talked before Howard submitted his resignation.

Berg says the department will begin the process of selecting a replacement for the position.

In his short statement, Berg included:

“It is paramount that the public we serve have confidence in their police department, both in terms of the actions we take in performing our duties, as well as the manner in which those actions are reviewed.”
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For background, read “Chief Berg: Shooting at fleeing man was outside police department policy” from Thursday February 5, 2015, here