Lewis County Sirens.com

Courtesy photo by West Sound Wildlife Shelter

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The bald eagles poisoned last week as they fed off horse carcasses in Winlock have recovered and are set to be released tomorrow back in the same area they were found.

“It’s mating season, we need to get them back out there,” Lisa Horn, executive director of the West Sound Wildlife Shelter, said today.

The six birds were taken to a center in Olympia and then transferred to the Bainbridge Island wildlife hospital on Sunday where they received around-the-clock care, including an antidote. They were critical, Horn said.

When they arrived, some were vomiting and convulsing, others were unconscious, she said. By Tuesday, four of them had been moved to an outside cage where they were regaining their strength.

Horn said they ingested meat from two horses which had been euthanized four days earlier and left in a field.

The potent drug pentobarbital sodium is used by veterinarians for humane, painless and rapid euthanasia.

Bald eagles are no longer listed as an endangered species, but are protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. They can’t be hunted or harmed and even the use of their feathers and body parts is highly regulated, said Joan Jewett, a spokesperson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Fish and Wildlife authorities are investigating the situation, according to Jewett.

“We’re in the early stages,” she said.

A violation of the act is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of one year in jail and $100,000 fine, for each bird, she said.

The (Longview) Daily News reported on Wednesday a seventh eagle rehabilitated in Portland was released back to a Winlock pasture.

One is an adult male, the rest are 2-years-old or younger, with just one of those juveniles being female, according to Horn.

“They are all doing really, really well,” she said.

Horn estimated each day of treatment cost more than $3,000.

West Sound Wildlife Shelter announced today the formation of a fund specifically to care for bald eagles at their clinic, that would also include educational outreach.
•••

For background, read “Read about at least seven bald eagles accidentally poisoned in Winlock …” from Tuesday March 26, 2013, here

Justin Razor, with scuff marks on his forehead, is charged today for assault, intimidating a witness.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The fight last night in Centralia that ended with a stabbing was over a snitch, and someone stepping in to defend the informant’s girlfriend against a couple now charged with intimidating a witness, according to authorities.

Justin Razor, 27, and Emily Satcher, 23, went before a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court. His bail was set at $75,000; hers at $35,000.

Defense attorney Bob Schroeter described Satcher as a straight-A student at Centralia College with no previous run ins with the law, who is only thinly connected by one comment to police to her boyfriend’s issue involving the witness.

Both Satcher and Razor are charged however with first-degree assault and intimidating a witness; either as a principal or as an accomplice.

The stabbing victim, Oscar A. Paguaga, was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a stab wound to the side of his chest that appeared to have punctured a lung and cuts to his arm and leg, according to charging documents.

According to charging documents, the informant told police he recently received text messages from Razor, threatening to put him in the hospital after breaking his face open, and telling him they know who his girlfriend is and where they hang out.

The informant stated to police he believed the messages were about him recently assisting police as a confidential informant in the arrest of one of Razor’s friends; he is expected to testify as a witness in the case, charging documents state.

Last night’s events outside an apartment building on  the 600 block of North Washington Avenue began when the informant’s girlfriend, Leticia, arrived to visit friends and a black Trailblazer blocked her in, then two people jumped out and yelled that her boyfriend was a snitch, according to charging documents.

She said she knows Razor and Satcher, the documents state.

Charging documents then go on to give the following account:

Paguaga heard the commotion and came out of his apartment to tell the couple to leave.

Police this morning described that Paguaga came to his girlfriend’s aid, but charging documents indicate Leticia is actually the informant’s girlfriend.

Leticia said Razor attacked Paguaga, they fought on the ground and Satcher jumped on top of them.

Leticia and some other women at the scene pulled Satcher off and a man arrived and helped get Razor off Paguaga. That man was bitten by Razor.

Razor and Satcher fled in their vehicle but were subsequently apprehended by law enforcement.

Police have confirmed the text messages came from two phone numbers belonging to Razor and Satcher. Detectives were in the process today of getting search warrants to look through their cell phones and the vehicle.

Police, arriving about 9:30 p.m., questioned witnesses, and reported this morning Paguaga was stabbed by an adult male. Charging documents don’t specify which of the two did it.

Razor and Satcher live together outside Chehalis. Their arraignments are scheduled for next Thursday.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Police arrested a suspect this morning in last week’s downtown Centralia jewelry store burglary that ended in gunfire when the adult son of the shop owner who lives upstairs woke up and confronted an intruder rifling through a showcase.

Jeremy Salewsky fired one round that police now know struck the burglar in the lower back, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Officers called about 7 a.m. last Wednesday to Salewsky’s Jewelry shop on the 200 block of North Tower Avenue learned that two masked males fled the area, leaving a trail of dropped jewelry and getting into two getaway cars each with a female behind the wheel.

Detective Sgt. Pat Fitzgerald said today they arrested Justin D. McPherson, 29, of Auburn, as he was being released from a Tacoma hospital about 10:30 a.m. today.

“He’s got an extensive criminal background, he’s well known to police in the Renton, Kent, Auburn area,” Fitzgerald said.

Police are still looking for the getaway cars, described as a red newer model Mercedes and a silver newer Toyota Scion FRS – or a Subaru BRZ. Both had tinted windows.

McPherson’s injury was serious, and detectives actually figured out the following day he was at Providence St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tacoma, according to Fitzgerald. They didn’t however, contact him until this morning, Fitzgerald said.

The bullet was a 45 caliber ACP.

Video surveillance images at the hospital showed a woman in a red Mercedes dropping McPherson – with a gunshot wound – off there about 8 a.m. last Wednesday, according to police.

When the woman, his girlfriend, arrived on Friday evening to visit McPherson, police arrested her, police revealed today. Jennifer Nordyke, 30, of Auburn, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for burglary.

Fitzgerald said the offense for Nordyke is the same, whether she entered the building or not. Sort of like as an accomplice, he said.

The break-in occurred about 6:30 a.m., though Jeremy Salewsky called his father first, and then police were notified.

Fitzgerald said he saw no reason for the younger Salewsky to get in any kind of trouble for shooting the intruder, in the back or otherwise. A final decision on that matter would be up to the prosecutor’s office however, he said.

When police investigated, they found someone had entered the store by cutting a hole in the wall of an adjacent empty business. They broke through the back door of the vacant building next door, Fitzgerald said.

“We’re still trying to make that connection, of how they knew about that place,” he said.

Police were told the masked intruder left through the same hole in the wall.

Detectives continue to pursue leads regarding other aspects of the case, Fitzgerald said.

It’s still not clear what if anything is missing from the jewelry store.

“There was a lot of property left in the adjacent building, and a trail outside,” Fitzgerald said.

Nordyke is being held on $35,00 bail. McPherson will likely have a bail hearing tomorrow afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.

Police are still looking for their other two suspects, and the cars. Fitzgerald is asking anyone with any information to call detectives at 360-330-7680.

•••

For background, read “Breaking news: Centralia jewelry shop burglary interrupted with gunshot” from Wednesday March 20, 2013 at 10:27 a.m., here

Centralia police say the getaway cars looked like these.

•

Deputy Polly Davin testifies about the moments on March 9 of last year when she wrestled with a man and was shot.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Deputy Polly Davin told jurors of the moments before and after a man she approached inside the Grays Harbor County Courthouse twisted her duty weapon out of her hand and pointed it at her; she was laying on the floor and he was standing within kicking distance.

“The muzzle of the gun never stopped moving,” Davin said. “From my chest, up to my face.”

“I heard two shots,” she said.

One bullet went through her forearm, the other missed, according to attorneys who addressed a jury of four men and eight women today.

Davin said her assailant then looked around for a few seconds, and walked out the courthouse door.

The case of Steven Daniel Kravetz comes from the day a little more than a year ago that Davin was shot and a judge was stabbed inside the courthouse in Montesano in Grays Harbor County.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey is presiding, since judges in Grays Harbor recused themselves. A Lewis County jury is hearing the case in Chehalis.

Kravetz, 35, is charged with attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault.

This afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court, Grays Harbor County Prosecutor H. Steward Menefee in opening statements described how Kravetz had been frustrated, for a long time. He was frustrated with sheriff’s office employees, district court officials, and hospital staff about how he’d been treated.

“Finally he decided he’d had enough,” Menefee said.

Menefee said Kravetz had begun to believe there was a conspiracy, conducted research to identify those involved and finally on March 9 of last year, took a bus from Olympia to the courthouse.

“He decided there must be some documents in the prosecutor’s office to prove the conspiracy,” Menefee said.

Jury selection began this morning; the prosecution began putting on its case late this afternoon.

Centralia defense attorney David Arcuri took only about seven minutes to open, conceding the basic facts about the struggle, the gun and the knife.

Arcuri suggested jurors listen closely to what is presented about what Kravetz was thinking at the time of the incident.

“What the state is not going to be able to prove to you is intent,” Arcuri told jurors.

Jurors heard this afternoon about a court employee spotting a man who seemed to be loitering, seemed to have no official business and appeared as though he didn’t want his face to be seen.

Deputy Davin responded from the sheriff’s office to look for the subject she said was described as dressed professionally in slacks and a blue shirt, and carrying a brief case.

Davin said she entered at the lower level, went upstairs and then had returned to the top of the stairway when she finally saw the subject ahead of her.

She asked what he was up to, asked him for identification, and when she started to put her hand on his elbow, he suddenly turned and attacked her, she said.

The man put his arm around her neck and pulled her close to him, and as she struggled to reach her radio, she put her right arm against her gun, Davin testified.

“I felt him get a sudden surge of energy, is what it felt like to me,” Davin said. “Then he took me to the ground, he threw me to the ground.”

He was on top of her, she was flailing, she said.

Then Grays Harbor Superior Court Judge David L. Edwards appeared, grabbed the man and shoved him away, Menefee had already told jurors.

Davin said as the judge was trying to fight the man off, she saw stabbing motions.

“I was still on he ground, I drew my gun, pointed it in their direction and I said stop,” Davin testified.

The man stopped stabbing the judge, Davin said, but he turned toward her, wrenched the gun from her grip and pointed it.

Her survival instincts took over, and she was kicking at his legs, she said.

“I couldn’t get a good kick in,” Davin said.

Menefee asked her what she was thinking.

“When the shot hit me, I remember it was pretty painful,” she said. “I was immobilized.”

After the gunshots, according to Menefee, the judge believed the deputy was dead and retreated upstairs to hide. Davin said she lay on the floor for awhile, with her Taser, in case the assailant came back.

Davin’s .45 caliber Glock was found when a search was conducted at Kravetz mother’s home in Olympia, according to Menefee. Kravetz had called his mother to come and get him from the courthouse, Menefee said.

Judge Edwards is expected to take the witness stand in the morning.

The trial could last into Tuesday.

Steven Daniel Kravetz listens to his attorney David Arcuri as the first day of trial comes to a close.

Becky M. Heupel prepares to leave the courtroom after bail was settled with a $10,000 signature bond today.

Updated at 8:18 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Almost a year after losing her 2-year-old daughter to torturous sexual abuse of a new live-in boyfriend, Becky M. Heupel today faced a judge, charged with failing to protect the little girl.

Heupel, 31, admitted to police, according to prosecutors, that if she had witnessed injuries on someone else’s child that she saw on her own daughter, she would have called the police.

The Centralia woman pleaded not guilty this afternoon to second-degree criminal mistreatment in Lewis County Superior Court. It’s a class C felony.

Koralynn Fister

Koralynn Fister died last May 24 of head injuries and drowning; the boyfriend James Reeder said he found her face down in the bathtub when he stepped out to get a towel.

Flanked by two women in the Chehalis courtroom described by Koralynn’s father as Heupel’s advocates, the mother did her best to avoid news cameras, and said very little during the brief hearing.

Heupel, who is partially deaf, used a hearing device provided by courtroom staff.

“I think it’s bogus,” her father Terry Heupel said of the criminal charge. “She ended up with a bad fellow she trusted. She was like a mother hen to those kids.”

Becky Heupel has a 4-year-old daughter who was put into foster care by the state when Koralynn died.

Heupel’s step-mother, sister, grandmother and other apparent supporters were among those who attended the proceedings. David Fister, father of Koralynn, was present as well.

Fister said he preferred not to comment, wishing to stay out of the spotlight.

Koralynn would have turned 3 years old two weeks ago, the toddler’s grandfather said.

“For her birthday, instead of gearing up up for a celebration, we went to the cemetery,” Terry Heupel said. “That was hard.”

Charges were filed two weeks ago, and Heupel was summonsed by mail to appear for today’s hearing.

Prosecutors allege the mother recklessly created an imminent and substantial risk of death or great bodily harm through her inaction.

When interviewed by Centralia police this past January, Heupel confirmed she wanted a relationship with Reeder and ignored warnings from others about the relationship, as well as signs she saw herself, such as controlling behavior and signs of abuse to the child, according to prosecutors.

Her attorney, Paul Strophy, said he was only hired this week and didn’t have enough information yet to make any statements outside the courtroom.

“It’s premature to make any comments on the case,” Strophy said.

Charging documents for Heupel repeat in a fair amount of detail the injuries, new and old, that medical personnel discovered on the little girl’s body. When he charged Reeder last May, Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer called it the the worst case of child abuse and neglect he’d seen in his career.

The charging documents do not specify what signs of abuse prosecutors allege Heupel saw on her daughter.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead earlier this month told a judge nobody else really knew what was happening to Koralynn other than Reeder as he had isolated the child; he’d change her diapers and give her baths.

Among the injuries noted were palm-sized pieces of skin missing from her buttocks, consistent with rubbing over time, according to Halstead.

Prosecutors allege that the day before Koralynn died, her aunt noticed an injury on the toddler’s behind and told Heupel she needed to have it looked at.

Charging documents state that Heupel told police she met Reeder online and he moved into the home off  West Oakview Avenue about 10 weeks before Koralynn’s death.

She admitted to police she had issues setting boundaries in relationships, according to charging documents.

About one month before the death, Reeder suggested parenting duties should be divided up, and as a result he spent a significant amount of time alone with the toddler, documents state. When Heupel would leave, he’d insist she take the older daughter, Meyer wrote.

Heupel and her 4-year-old left the house about 12:30 p.m. the day Koralynn died, less than three hours before Reeder carried the naked and unbreathing child to neighbors across the street asking them to call 911.

Meyer contends the mother chose to ignore the risks so her relationship with Reeder could continue.

Meyer requested, and Judge James Lawler agreed, today that Heupel remain out of jail pending trial on a $10,000 signature bond.

The judge also ordered she have no contact with children, except for the two hour once a visit allowed by Child Protective Services with her remaining daughter.

A trial was set for the week of June 10
•••

For background, read “Centralia man gets maximum prison term for sexual abuse, death of toddler” from Wednesday March 6, 2013, here

Updated

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A bookkeeper from Raintree Nursery in the Morton area is charged with stealing more than $12,000 from her employer.

Debora S. Barnett, 55, was fired after suspicious transactions on the business credit account were reported to the owners and subsequently to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Barnett made a first appearance before a judge yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court. She is not in custody. Criminal charges were filed earlier this month.

She is charged with one count of first-degree theft.

The owners of the nursery, Maida Richman and Samuel Benowitz, told a deputy in June 2011 they were contacted by a representative of Merchant Card Services, who said the company was alarmed by unusual activity they found, according to charging documents.

Merchant Card Services is the credit card company Raintree used to make refunds to customers.

Raintree is well-known for its mail order business of fruit trees and other edible vines, bushes and plants. It is located on the 300 block of Butts Road west of Morton.

According to charging documents, the owners were told that 18 times between October 2010 and May 2011, refunds went from Raintree, via Merchant Card Services, to a TwinStar Credit Union account which had never made purchases from the nursery. The TwinStar account belonged to Barnett, according to the documents.

The allegations go on to give the following account: The Merchant Card Services representative said she called the nursery several times about it and spoke with Barnett.

When confronted by her bosses, Barnett said there must be some mistake and vowed to investigate. Prosecutor Eric Eisenberg writes that Barnett was hostile, combative and showed no remorse about the situation.

Benowitz fired her and said if she discovered a mistake, she could come back to work and he would apologize.

When contacted by a deputy, Barnett said she was aware of unusually high amounts of money coming into her account, but did not ask any questions about it; and spent it.

“Barnett had no explanation for why the deposits were made to her account, why she spent it or what she spent it on,” Eisenberg wrote.

The sheriff’s office was notified of the discrepancies in June 2011, the day after Raintree was contacted by its credit card service. Barnett was fired and then interviewed by the sheriff’s office that same month but the results of an examination of a computer didn’t come back to local authorities until this past October, according to Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer.

The Washington State Patrol’s crime lab took 11 months to analyze the computer, Meyer said. Charges were filed on March 5 of this year.

Defense attorney Bob Schroeter told a judge yesterday afternoon that Barnett lives in Morton, where she collects about $1,400 a month of unemployment checks, as well as food stamps.

The charges against her include so-called aggravating circumstances of using a position of trust, involving a high degree of sophistication and displaying an egregious lack of remorse.

Barnett’s arraignment is scheduled for March 28.