Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Acting on an anonymous tip, Centralia police yesterday arrested a 22-year-old man wanted on a first-degree murder warrant related to the death of an 18-year-old in Tacoma earlier this month.

Several officers at about 1:30 p.m. conducted a building search at a business on the 500 block of North Tower Avenue and found Alberto Cole Sarmiento hiding under some stairs, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Alberto Colt-Sarmiento

He was taken into custody at gunpoint, but without incident, Officer Angie Humphrey said.

The suspect, identified as Alberto “Taxer” Colt-Sarmiento by Tacoma police, is believed to have set up an ambush the night of Nov. 2, near 44th Street and East R Street in the Salishan neighborhood of east Tacoma.

According to Tacoma-Pierce County Crime Stoppers, as the victim and his two friends exited their vehicle, an unidentified shooter jumped out of the bushes and fired multiple shots toward them. Victim Elijah Crawford was struck once and died from his wounds; the second victim was struck in the shoulder and face and survived; the third friend ran away without being hit.

Crime Stoppers reported one of the surviving victims had an ongoing dispute with Colt-Sarmiento, and that detectives believe Colt-Sarmiento set up the ambush but was not the shooter.

Centralia police yesterday further assisted the Tacoma Police Department yesterday by recovering evidence related to the homicide.

Humphrey said she didn’t know what that evidence was but did say no gun was found on the suspect yesterday.

She said she understood Colt-Sarmiento has a relative at the bakery where he was hiding.

Colt-Sarmiento was turned over to Tacoma police after his arrest.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Winlock lumber mill owner pleaded guilty today to federal violations for trafficking in specialty wood cut on national forest land.

In his plea agreement, Harold Clause Kupers, admitted he suspected the big leaf maple had been illegally taken from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, but purchased it and made sales out-of-state of nearly $500,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Courtesy photo by U.S. Attorney’s Office

The so-called figured maple is particularly valuable for making  musical instruments and, for example, just one shipment to PRS Guitars in Maryland from Kupers’ J & L Tonewoods sold for $21,395, according to authorities.

Kupers, 48, made his pleas for violations of the Lacey Act,  in U.S. District Court in Tacoma today, according to the  announcement from U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes.

According to the plea agreement, in April 2012, law enforcement officers with the U.S. Forest Service met with him and specifically informed him that he was required by Washington law to review specialized forest products permits for all persons from whom he purchased maple, Hayes stated in a news release.

Despite that, he admitted, he continued to buy the wood without requiring the harvesters to show the permit until March 2014.

Kupers faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and at least $159,000 in restitution when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle on February 8.

Three men suspected of harvesting the wood were charged with theft of government property and damaging government property.

Ryan Justice, 28, of Randle, has pleaded guilty to theft of government property and is scheduled for sentencing on December 7.

James Miller, 36, of Morton, and Kevin Mullins, 56, of Packwood, are scheduled for trial on January 12.
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For background, read “Feds: Tree thieves and mill owner indicted for trafficking specialty maple from Gifford Pinchot” from Friday August 7, 2015, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A fire alarm at W.F. West High School in Chehalis yesterday sent students outside and drew firefighters, and subsequently police who are investigating an arson.

Smoke filled the boys’ bathroom and drifted into the adjacent commons area, according to the Chehalis Fire Department.

Fire Investigator Derrick Paul said a janitor used a fire extinguisher to put the fire out, before leaving the building.

The fire department called at 1:05 p.m. summoned police and, along with the school resource officer, they spent about two hours investigating at the scene, he said.

It appeared someone ignited the plastic bag that contained the soap in a dispenser, he said. The damage was limited to maybe about $700 for cleanup, but the potential for something much worse was there, Paul said.

The walls are masonry, but the ceiling is not.

“It could have been bad, there’s a reason we’re investigating for a criminal act,” Paul said. “This didn’t just affect one person; it disrupted school for an hour and put the kids outside in the cold and rain.”

Because the school has cameras, investigators have two suspects, Paul said this morning.

Nobody was arrested, yet, he said.

Monitor your area by clicking the link here, then clicking your location on the map and reading about weather watches and warnings. / Image from National Weather Service

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A flood watch remains in effect through tomorrow morning for much of Western Washington, while forecasters this morning upgraded that to a flood warning for two Lewis County Rivers.

Expect minor flooding on the Cowlitz River from Randle through Riffe Lake as well as along the Newaukum River around Chehalis, the National Weather Service says.

A flood warning means flooding is imminent or actually occurring. A watch just means conditions are favorable for flooding and the public should monitor the weather.

Just after 10 a.m. today, the weather service said heavy rain over the southwest interior would drive the Newaukum River above flood stage at about 1 p.m. today, inundating many roads and residential as well as commercial areas along the Newaukum River and its forks.

Flooding in some areas could be deep and hazardous especially near rivers, according to the weather service service, prompting them to remind motorists of the dangers of driving through flooded areas.

Roads and surrounding areas that would be impacted include: Jackson Highway, Tune, Rush, Sommerville, Griel, Hamilton, Tauscher, Guerrier, Kirkland, Macomber, Rice, Senn, Lucas Creek, Middle Fork and North Fork roads.

The two rivers should fall back below flood stage this evening and tonight, according to the NWS.

The flood watch for other areas remains in effect through tomorrow morning, and includes the Skookumchuck River as well as others in Lewis, Thurston, Pierce and Grays Harbor counties.

While the rainfall rates eased up overnight, the threat of landslides continues through today.
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Follow the forecasts and watch for weather advisories and warnings:

The link for the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Seattle can be found here and also always on the right hand column of this page, labeled “Weather Alerts, forecasts”

The link for the National Weather Service’s river level observation and forecast for Western Washington can be found here and also  always on the right hand column of this page, labeled “River levels”

Monitor your river levels by clicking the link here, then clicking your chosen river gauge on the map and see diagram of previous, present and forecasted river levels. / Image from National Weather Service

Ricky A. Riffe listens to his lawyer during a court hearing a few weeks after his 2013 trial.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  After his conviction two years ago, Ricky A. Riffe’s lawyer said his client contested everything about his conviction for the 1985 slayings of Ed and Minnie Maurin and in a 30-page opinion, the Washington State Court of Appeals has rejected all of Riffe’s claims.

At the end of a six-week trial in Lewis County Superior Court, the former Mossyrock man who was extradited from his his home in Alaska was condemned to nearly 103 years in prison, still maintaining he had nothing to apologize for regarding the case.

The elderly couple were found fatally shot in their backs on a logging road outside Adna, days after vanishing from from their Ethel farmhouse, in what prosecutors described as an abduction and a trip to their Chehalis bank at gunpoint to withdraw all their money.

Riffe, now 57, appealed his convictions for first-degree murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary citing numerous reasons they should not stand.

In it’s decision filed on Tuesday, the three-member panel of judges unanimously affirmed the convictions.

“We hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it (1) excluded Dr. Reinitz’s testimony, (2) admitted two composite sketches of Riffe, (3) admitted Riffe’s brother’s statement about killing before as an adoptive admission, (4) admitted Riffe’s former wife’s question to police, and (5) did not allow Riffe to improperly impeach a witness with her prior inconsistent statements,” Justice Lisa Sutton wrote.

“Next, we hold that Riffe’s right to due process was not violated and the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Riffe’s motion for mistrial for the state’s alleged failure to disclose information about a witness’s plea agreement,” Sutton wrote. “Finally, we reject Riffe’s prosecutorial misconduct and cumulative constitutional error arguments, and his statement of additional grounds claims.”

Judge Richard Brosey presided over the autumn 2013 trial. His attorney was John Crowley.

Riffe was represented in his appeal by Seattle lawyer Suzanne Elliott. Handling the appeal for the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office was Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Sara Beigh.

Riffe and his younger brother were both implicated in the murders, but John Gregory Riffe died just before detectives traveled to Alaska to make the arrests in the summer of 2012. Ricky Riffe was convicted as the principal or an accomplice, in the case in which prosecutors at the end revealed they believed may have involved more perpetrators than just the two brothers.

Ed Maurin was 81, his wife Minnie was 83 years old when their lives were taken from them in December 1985.

Read the appeal here, which begins with nine pages outlining the facts of the case.
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For background, read “Riffe continuing battle against finding of guilt in 1985 double-murder” from Friday January 3, 2014, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Less than a week after an arrest was made for a burglary of former Centralia Police Chief Bob Berg’s house, an arrest was made in a break-in at Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer’s home that took place earlier this year.

Both occurred in Centralia and both were solved through confessions allegedly obtained by an inmate at the Thurston County Jail. The 38-year-old man has not been charged.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer

According to authorities, the inmate has named so far at least four individuals as his partners in crimes in more than a dozen burglaries in Lewis County since last year.

Berg’s home on Winterwood Drive was broken into in February of 2014, and Meyer’s in February of this year.

Meyer, 44, said although in his job he works with victims on a daily basis, being a victim himself is “kind of surreal.”

“It’s a weird feeling, to know your stuff’s out there somewhere,” he said.

His youngest daughter discovered it, when she got home from school and found the front door had been kicked in, he said. Their house is just outside the Centralia city limits on Mount Vista Road near Centralia High School.

She called him, he sent her somewhere safe and he called the police, he said.

Someone rummaged through the master bedroom and took jewelry and other personal items.

“They took my wife’s jewelry box, full of pieces I’d given her, including from her great grandmother, and a ring I’d given her of my grandmother’s” he said. ”

Meyer kept his small valuables in what he called a watch box. Among the items it contained before it was all stolen were his wedding rings, his Aberdeen High School class ring, his prosecutor’s badge and his Tenino Police Department reserve officer badge, he said.

He damaged his wedding ring when he was in college and got a new one, he said, that he’d happened to have left at home that day.

They also took a wicker laundry basket, he said.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office initially estimated the loss at about $3,300, but Meyer said it was much more.

One of the two suspects was arrested last week, found hiding in a garage on North Pearl Street in Centralia. Janet L. Gleason, 42, of Centralia, was charged the following day in Lewis County Superior Court with residential burglary, first-degree trafficking in stolen property and second-degree malicious mischief.

Meyer said he was told by detectives he was targeted by Gleason in retaliation for prosecuting her son.

Eighteen-year-old Dillan G. Gleason was sent to prison for five years after pleading guilty to stealing from relatives in the summer of 2014.

His grandmother at his sentencing hearing said she believed there was close to $300,000 cash from her lottery winnings in a safe that went missing. As part of the plea agreement, the younger Gleason signed back over $57,000 from a trust, according to his lawyer.

Meyer said in his line of work, he’s gotten threats from people, but involving his home and his family took it to a whole different level.

“I understand people are upset at me for doing my job, or the job that I do,” he said. “I get that; but that crosses the line.”

Meyer was elected prosecutor in 2010, and won a second term last November. Before that, he was in private practice in Centralia and did criminal defense work.

Gleason’s arraignment was yesterday. The case is being handled by an outside prosecutor, because of the conflict.

According to court documents, Gleason admitted only to being present in a car outside the residence when it happened. She contended Robert Collins, the Thurston County Jail inmate, gave her two jewelry boxes which she in turn gave to two friends.

Collins however, when interviewed with his lawyer present in September by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Bruce Kimsey, said it was Gleason’s idea and that she asked for his help, according to her charging documents.

Collins allegedly admitted only that he forced the front door open and then Gleason ran into the house and headed upstairs, the documents state.

He said he yelled at her for getting him involved when he saw the badges, and that’s when she told him she was getting back at the prosecutor, according to the allegations.

Meyer said they recently got back the two jewelry boxes – his wife’s jewelry box and his watch box. He got back a necklace of his that had been cut apart and melted down, he said.

Late this summer, someone found his class ring in a gas station parking lot in Olympia, and tracked him down through his high school, to return it, he said.

Meyer said he didn’t know how many burglaries Collins has said he was involved in. He’s taken himself out of the loop on prosecuting the cases that relate to his burglary, he said.

He said he’s taken steps, “to do everything I can,” to make his family home safe. He reflected on how the experience has changed him, when he spoke about it earlier this week.

He has prosecuted people, he has defended people, and even sat as a judge, he said.

“To me, it makes me a more well-rounded prosecutor,” Meyer said. “Really, the part of that circle is, I hadn’t been a victim.”

Pacific County Prosecutor Mark McClain is handling Gleason’s case, according to Meyer’s Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher.

He just got the case or cases yesterday, Meagher said.

Her bail was set at $25,000. Her trial was put on the court calendar for Dec. 28.

Collins, who remains in the Thurston County Jail, is being held there on two cases from last year and at least one from this year, according to the jail’s online roster.

The only case he has in Lewis County Superior Court currently is one charge of possession of methamphetamine, from February of this year. His bail is set at $25,000.

Gleason has a current case in Lewis County Superior Court involving two counts of possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver and one count of possession of methamphetamine, according to court papers. She has previous felony convictions for second-degree burglary in 2006 as well as violations of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act in 2005, 2001 and 1999.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The fire chief in Mossyrock says he’s on pins and needles watching the numbers coming from yesterday’s election.

It’s the second time Lewis County Fire District 3 has asked voters to approve a bond to build a new station. It failed narrowly in April, and now, the tally is still a bit shy of the 60 percent yes votes needed, according to Chief Doug Fosburg.

When the preliminary results were released last night in the all vote-by-mail election, 244 people had said yes, coming to 58.65 percent. Rejecting the measure were 172 people, or 41.35 percent.

The district ran the proposal again, thinking there would be a better turnout during a general election, Fosburg said.

Local voter turnout overall so far is just over 30 percent, according to the Lewis County Auditor’s Office elections department.

Officials indicate there are an estimated 3,000 ballots left to count from throughout Lewis County, and they will release the results of a second count this afternoon.

The Chehalis Fire Department won’t need to wait for today’s updated numbers as among the nearly 1,000 votes cast for their emergency medical services levy renewal, almost 82 percent of the people voted yes.

It, like other levies on the ballot need only a simple majority to pass.

Another measure with such a wide spread that it looks like a done deal, is the Napavine area fire department’s request for an increase in their fire services levy. Voting no on Newaukum Valley Fire and Rescue’s proposal are 65.58 percent.

Lewis County Fire District 11’s fire services levy is passing, with 65.57 of their Pe Ell area voters giving their approval.

A closer vote is Cowlitz-Lewis Fire District 20’s emergency medical services levy. Voters in the Vader area are supporting it so far with 54.72 percent yes votes.

Three fire districts in Lewis County have contested commissioner positions.

For Lewis County Fire District 15 in Winlock, candidate Jerry Craft got the vote from 64.96 percent of the people, compared with 30.04 percent casting their ballots for Stan Hankins.

For Lewis County Fire District 2 in Toledo, 64.38 percent voted for Mike Thomas, while 35.62 percent want Dale Nielsen.

The race in Lewis County Fire District 8, Salkum is somewhat closer. Candidate Rick Wood took 54.51 percent of the vote while Don Taylor has 45.49 percent.

The election won’t be final and certified until November 24.

Unrelated to the fire service, longtime Morton Police Chief Dan Mortensen who will retire at the end of this year, is running for mayor. The race is uncontested, and 132 votes have been cast for Mortensen.

Updated preliminary results can be found this afternoon at the Lewis County Auditor’s Office, Elections Department, here.
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For background, read “Election Day: Numerous fire departments and candidates seeking support” from Sunday November 1, 2015, here