Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The case of a bar fight that led to charges of felony assault and witness tampering by the owner of a Centralia used car business ended today with a jail sentence of five months.

John I. Burkett, 40, was set to go to trial next week and decided to accept a plea offer instead.

Burkett said he was afraid he would lose everything if he ended up going to prison.

“She was asking for 22 months if I went to trial and lost, and I was scared, I’ve got kids,” Burkett said, referring to the deputy prosecutor.

The Winlock resident pleaded guilty today in Lewis County Superior Court to tampering with a witness and malicious prosecution.

Burkett indicated the malicious prosecution charge came about when he told police another man put his hands on the woman he was dancing with at Paradise in Chehalis in December of 2011.

The 25-year-old victim who suffered an injury to the back of his head was not present in the courtroom this afternoon.

The witness tampering charge, Burkett admitted in a written statement, was because he offered the man $3,500 in hopes he would absent himself from further court hearings.

Dismissed were charges of assault and bribing a witness.

Burkett owns Burkett’s Auto Sales on on South Gold Street in Centralia.

Defense attorney Chris Baum told the judge today he client was very sorry for what he’d done.

“This is a real unfortunate situation that was blown out of proportion,” Baum said.

The Chehalis attorney said his client tried to resolve the issue by attempting to offer restitution privately.

Judge James Lawler decided Burkett would have to spend 30 days in jail and would be free to serve the rest of his sentence on electronic home monitoring.

Updated at 5:13 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A collapse of the upper level of a Rochester auto repair shop today drew firefighters who had to move about 1,000 pounds of structural debris and auto parts to rescue a 34-year-old man who was trapped and pinned against a wall.

West Thurston Regional Fire Authority Chief Robert Scott said two employees were working on the upper level which was used for storage, above the first floor office. When the ceiling fell, it sent the pair to the ground level, along with about a ton of material and various items, according to Scott.

“Engines, transmissions, engine blocks, there was a lot of weight up there,” Scott said.

Firefighters were called just before 3 p.m. to the building at the 19300 block of Elderberry Street Southwest.

A 40-year-old man was able to get himself out, according to the chief, but crews had to break through an exterior wall to get at the 34-year-old.

“The patient was conscious and talking to the responders during the entire operation which lasted just over 20 minutes,” Scott said.

The 34-year-old, whose name was not available, had leg injuries that Scott said he wasn’t sure were if they were fractures or crush injuries.

The other man, whose name was not available either, was ambulatory, but also had an injury to his leg as well as possibly his lower back, according to Scott.

They were both transported to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia.

Firefighters were assisted by Riverside Fire Authority from Centralia, the McLane/Black Lake Fire Department and members of the Thurston County Special Operations Rescue Team.

Some of the additional materials that remain after patient extricated. / Courtesy photo by Robert Scott

Brian L. Creed waits to be escorted back to the jail after his bail is set in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The accused intruder didn’t look like a man who had been shot in the stomach less than two weeks ago when he appeared in Lewis County Superior Court this afternoon.

Fifty-one-year-old Brian L. Creed, handcuffed and clothed in orange jail garb, projected a voice that was strong and clear when asked by a judge if that was his correct name. He was just released from the hospital yesterday.

Creed is charged with first-degree burglary and second-degree criminal trespass for events that occurred near where he was either visiting, staying or living on Nix Road on February 10.

Deputies called about 4:45 a.m. that morning to the 400 block of Highway 603 west of Chehalis were told by the 24-year-old resident he awakened and found a stranger inside his home who charged him even after being told at gunpoint to get out.

The young man wrestled away from Creed and held him at gunpoint until law officers arrived, according to charging documents.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke today asked the judge to hold Creed on $25,000 bail.

“He doesn’t have an extensive (criminal) history, but we have to acknowledge the seriousness of the charge,” O’Rourke said.

Judge James Lawler set bail at $50,000 instead, noting the defendant is a violent threat because of the entry into someone else’s house.

Authorities admit they don’t know what Creed’s intentions were; he’s not accused of burglary in the sense of stealing, but of unlawfully entering a residence and once inside assaulting the resident. Sheriff Steve Mansfield has said Creed was high on methamphetamine.

He apparently came through an unlocked door.

Defense attorney Bob Schroeter told the judge his client was the unlucky one and asked for more reasonable bail of $10,000.

Creed qualified for a court appointed attorney, as his only income is $197 per month general assistance and food stamps, Schroeter told the judge.

Prosecutors initially charged Creed with first-degree burglary and fourth-degree assault, but changed the charges.

O’Rourke said the assault is an element of the burglary charge already.

He added a charge of second-degree trespass telling the court the state learned that about an hour and a half before the incident on Highway 603, Creed was seen rooting around on someone else’s property nearby, on the 100 block of Nix Road.

O’Rourke wrote in court documents he believes Creed was trolling the neighborhood to steal property and commit other criminal acts that night.

Creed’s arraignment was put on the calendar for Feb. 28.

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For background, read: “Wounded home intruder’s condition deteriorating, deputies relieved of guard duty to cut costs” from Friday February 15, 2013, here

Bret Bryan carries Steeler out from the briars where he was found this afternoon. / Courtesy photo by Harry Oakes

Updated at 7:08 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Steeler, the champion show dog who escaped his owners when their motor home crashed yesterday on the freeway through Chehalis, has been found.

“He was nervous, I think kind of like, what’s gonna happen now, but not frightened,” said Cathy Spears who slipped a collar around his neck this afternoon.

The whippet was tracked down in the brush behind Darigold off Main Street in Chehalis about 2 p.m.

The canine was located by search dogs.

Yesterday morning, Steeler was riding up front with Donald and Patricia Rodgers, of Shelton, as they returned home from a series of dog shows in California, according to Spears.

Donald Rodgers is a professional handler; the couple and their young assistant had as many as nine show dogs belonging to others crated up in the rear of their 1999 Freightliner motor home, she said.

But Steeler, a retired show dog, is their personal pet, she said.

It was just before 11 a.m. when their vehicle collided with the rear of semi truck on northbound Interstate 5 near milepost 78, leaving their cab crushed and all three injured. It was one of several wrecks in the same stretch that slowed freeway traffic for hours.

Steeler fled onto the freeway and vanished.

Spears, a Centralia woman, has known the Rodgers’ some 20 years, she said. She met up with fellow show dog handlers at the Chehalis Starbuck’s this morning to organize a search. They hired professional searcher Harry Oakes from Longview.

Oakes said it took only about 30 minutes, once they figured out where to start looking.

They learned one of the Chehalis firefighters had seen the dog running near Main Street when crews responded to the accident, Oakes said.

They used a blanket Steeler had slept on to give Oakes’ two Border Collies a scent to work with, he said. They found some tracks. A local man and his yellow lab helped lure Steeler out, according to Spears.

Bret Bryan works for the steam train and his dog is just a pet dog, not trained for such work, she said.

Oakes said he and Bryan spotted the whippet cowering in a briar patch about a half mile off Main Street.

“It took some time to calm him down and get him to come to us,” Oakes said.

The dog appeared to have just superficial cuts and minor bruising, Spears said.

Spears took him to her veterinarian, where he is expected to stay overnight for observation.

The other dogs traveling with the couple were uninjured, she said.

Donald Rodgers and 18-year-old Debra A. Carter of Lacey have been released from the hospital, according to Spears. Patricia J. Rodgers remains at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a crushed hip and knee, she said.

Ironically, Spears endured a similar experience herself about 20 years ago.

She was part of a 16-car pileup on Interstate 5 near Mellon Street in Centralia in which a 16-year-old boy died, she said. She was traveling with three show dogs and two of them ran off, she said.

“We found one the next morning and the other two days later,” she said.

But that’s not what motivated her, Penny King of Vader and Rachel Morris of Adna, to look for the Rodgers’ pet, she said.

“That’s what kept us going, but these are friends of ours,” Spears said.

•••

For background, read: “Multiple wrecks on I-5 tangle traffic around Chehalis, Centralia, show dog escapes onto freeway” from Tuesday February 19, 2013, here

Steeler is crated up for a ride to the veterinarian after being rescued. / Courtesy photo by Harry Oakes

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The Rodgers’ 1999 Freightliner motor home after Tuesday’s collision on Interstate 5. / Courtesy photo by Nathan Hays

KOMOnews.com caught video of when Steeler was located, see it here

Grants Towing prepares to disengage one of four vehicles mashed when a motorist cut off other cars to pull over for a trooper stopping her for speeding. / Courtesy photo by Laurie Thorson

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 71-year-old Shelton woman was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and two other occupants of the motor home she was traveling in were taken to Providence Centralia Hospital after a wreck on Interstate 5 in Chehalis today, one of four collisions in the same stretch all during about a 30-minute time frame, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Patricia J. Rodgers, 71, was a passenger in a northbound 1999 Freightliner motor home that struck the rear of a 2012 Kenworth semi near milepost 78, according to the state patrol. It happened just before 11 a.m. when the semi truck changed lanes, according to the patrol.

About 20 minutes earlier, and two miles to the north, a 49-year-old Camas woman caused a four-vehicle wreck when a trooper tried to pull her over and she crossed all lanes of traffic and stopped on the left shoulder, according to troopers. No injuries were reported there, but a Chevrolet Silverado and a Mercedes C350 were totaled, the investigating trooper reported.

The only Lewis County driver in that wreck was Kristen M. Klein, 53, of Chehalis, who reportedly escaped without damage to herself or her Audi.

Klein was among the three vehicles that stopped to avoid the Camas woman and then a semi truck coming up from behind struck them, according to the patrol.

Trooper Will Finn said as this was going on, a southbound vehicle at milepost 83 in Centralia ran into a construction barrel; and then a box van and a dump truck collided near Centralia’s Mellen Street interchange.

All lanes were opened by about 1:20 p.m., according to the state Department of Transportation.

The driver of the motor home, Donald E. Rodgers, 66, and a passenger, 18-year-old Debra A. Carter of Lacey, were transported to Providence Centralia Hospital with unspecified injuries.

The motor home was carrying about a half dozen show dogs, and a whippet that was not inside a kennel escaped onto the roadway and is missing, according to Finn.

The cause of that collision remains under investigation.

Steeler, the missing whippet. /  Courtesy photo

Updated

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 51-year-old man shot in the abdomen when he was found inside someone else’s home over the weekend has taken a turn for the worse, so the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office released him from their custody to avoid being responsible for paying for his medical treatment.

Brian L. Creed was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after the early Sunday morning incident at a house on the 400 block of Highway 603 west of Chehalis.

A news release from the sheriff’s office later that morning described his condition as stable although a nursing supervisor at the hospital that afternoon said Creed was in critical condition.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher in court documents filed yesterday asked a judge to cancel a planned court appearance noting Creed could be laid up for as much as a month.

Meagher stated he was told by Sheriff Steve Mansfield yesterday morning Creed was going to require surgery to repair internal damage to his intestines from the gunshot.

The hospital bills are staggering, there’s no sense sticking the taxpayers with them, Meagher wrote.

Creed was charged on Wednesday in Lewis County Superior Court with burglary and misdemeanor assault for allegedly entering the unlocked home of 24-year-old Joshua Norman and his wife and then charging Norman who was armed.

The sheriff’s office said Norman fired one shot with a 40 caliber handgun and then Creed tackled him. Norman broke free and held Creed at gunpoint until deputies arrived shortly after 5 a.m., according to the sheriff’s office.

Sheriff Mansfield held a press conference on Monday morning where he shared the findings of the initial investigation and said it was a straightforward case of the use of deadly force. Meagher told news reporters it appeared the 24-year-old acted appropriately in protecting himself and his wife.

Mansfield said Norman’s only mistake was not firing more shots, not firing sooner and not using better ammunition.

Creed was high methamphetamine, according to Mansfield. The sheriff said he, and probably Creed, didn’t know why he went into the house.

Sheriff’s deputies had been guarding Creed at the hospital.

Jail Chief Kevin Hanson said this morning Creed is now being watched by hospital security instead of the sheriff’s office.

“He’s not going anywhere, he’s not a threat to the community,” Hanson said.

Creed is on a feeding tube and in the critical care unit, according to Meagher.

By law, the hospital must notify them when he is to be released and the sheriff’s office will go pick him up, Hanson said.

The charging documents filed in court this week tell a similar story to what the sheriff’s office has already recounted.

Norman woke up to voices outside and thought someone was in his garage because a motion activated light turned on, the documents state.

He told his wife to call 911 and armed himself, Meagher wrote.

The encounter was described by Sheriff Mansfield as occurring while Norman stood outside his closed bedroom door.

However, Meagher states in court documents it happened in the kitchen.

According to Meagher, when Norman heard his front door open and someone walk inside, he went to the kitchen and flipped on the light.

He saw a lone, white male unknown to him, Meagher wrote.

Norman ordered the intruder out, at gunpoint, telling him would be shot if he didn’t leave, Meagher wrote.

The intruder charged, Norman fired his gun, they wrestled, Norman broke free and held Creed at gunpoint until deputies arrived, according to Meagher.

Norman suffered a bump on his head in what the sheriff called a fight for his life as the two men rolled around on the floor.

Sheriff Mansfield has repeatedly described Norman not by his  name, but as the home owner. County property records however show the owner is another man and woman. Mansfield said earlier this week he didn’t know who owned the house and didn’t mean to use the term as literally true.

Creed has two felony theft convictions and a trespass conviction from 2009 as well as one misdemeanor theft conviction from 2011 and another from last year, according to court documents. He also currently has an active warrant out of Cowlitz County District Court, the documents state.

The new burglary charge does not allege he was attempting to steal, but that he unlawfully entered the home and committed the crime of assault while inside.

Mansfield said Creed recently moved back into a nearby house, at 110 Nix Road, a residence that had been the source of great fear in the neighborhood. It’s owner and former lease holder say he may have been visiting, but has never lived there.

It was home to several men transitioning out of prison until last summer when the county pressured it to close its doors.

Documents in Creed’s court file show his address on Clark Road near Onalaska.

Creed has a court date of April 23 to face a judge and hear his charges.
•••

CORRECTION: This news story has been updated to correctly reflect the date Creed is summonsed to appear in court.

•••

For background, read “Lewis County sheriff pronounces full support for shooter of intruder” from Tuesday February 12, 2013, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Centralia police drug investigation led officers today to a home in south Chehalis where they seized more than 150 marijuana plants growing indoors.

Sgt. Jim Shannon said their SWAT team at about 2 p.m. visited a couple who live on the 100 block of Terra Bonita Drive, off Hillcrest Road.

The two were arrested without incident, he said.

It was a “pretty garden variety” operation, Shannon said.

Justin Currier and Amber Leonard tried to present a medical marijuana “script” but they weren’t in compliance with those rules, according to Shannon.

The case grew out of an investigation that began early last month, he said. Police, through informants, have purchased marijuana from them, something that’s not okay in the world of medicinal pot, according to Shannon.

It was only a month ago when Shannon and his team confiscated another indoor crop, consisting of 90 plants at a home on Seminary Hill Road in Centralia. In that case, a pair of brothers were charged with supplying product to medical marijuana dispensaries around the state.

Officers were at the scene today until until about 4 p.m. collecting evidence. The plants were in various stages of growth, he said.

Currier and Leonard, ages not readily available, were to be booked into the Lewis County Jail for possession with intent deliver; and he was additionally to be booked for delivery of marijuana and delivery of narcotics, pills, Shannon said late this afternoon.