Lewis County Sirens.com

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Updated at 10:45 a.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A defendant remanded into custody following a jury trial fled a courtroom and reportedly fought with a corrections officer down the stairwell and out into the street in Chehalis yesterday.

Responding deputies assisted in detaining the man outside the building, on Main Street near its intersection with Chehalis Avenue, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

John C. Baker, 49, of Chehalis, was on trial in Lewis County Superior Court, on the fourth floor of the Lewis County Law and Justice Center.

Sheriff’s Cmdr. Dusty Breen said the incident began about 10 minutes before 5 p.m. in Judge Richard Brosey’s courtroom.

The corrections officer ordered Baker to stop, and when he caught up with Baker, a physical altercation ensued during which the officer was assaulted, Breen said.

Baker was taken to the jail where he was booked for new offenses of first-degree escape, resisting arrest and custodial assault, according to Breen.

He had been free on $10,000 bail, but was convicted yesterday of harassment, stalking and other charges.

“He was facing a substantial sentence,” Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Sheila Weirth said.

Escape is a class B felony, with a maximum sentence of 10 years if convicted, according to Weirth.

The Lewis County Law and Justice Center at the corner of Main Street and Chehalis Avenue contains courtrooms on the top two floors and the sheriff’s office on the main level. The Lewis County Jail is adjacent to it at street level.

Seniors Jared Lee, Javier Corona and Andrew Waddell sit across the street from their school watching and waiting as fellow students are inside getting interviewed by deputies.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – Law enforcement officers don’t know if a threat a student was going to kill people at Centralia High School’s homecoming assembly this afternoon was genuine and was thwarted, or if it was something else.

A note found on a teacher’s desk this morning stated as such and prompted a lockdown that lasted all day.

Hundreds of family members descended upon the church and its parking lot across the street waiting for their children to be released.

More than two dozen deputies, police and troopers from the area responded to the 800 block of Eshom Road, after the school resource officer was informed of the message at approximately 10 a.m.

The investigation continued all day, and the last students were let go at about 4 p.m.

“We were interviewing kids, searching kids – with a wand,” Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said. “Escorting them to the bathroom and giving them snacks and water.”

No weapons were found, however, there are still backpacks left at the school that have yet to be searched, according to Brown.

Without going into details, Brown said a person wrote the note, telling of what another person planned to do. Deputies don’t know who left the note, or who the other person is, she said at the end of the day.

Centralia High School sits outside the city limits and is in the sheriff’s office jurisdiction.

Centralia School District spokesperson Ed Petersen said it threatened a specific action at a specific time and place, prompting an intentionally slow and meticulous process.

The homecoming assembly didn’t take place. The homecoming football game scheduled for tonight at Tiger Stadium has been postponed, as has tomorrow’s homecoming dance.

The school district notified the public and the news media at about 11 a.m., but information was already circulating on social media.

Parents were informed they could wait at the Centralia Community Church of God at the corner of Borst Avenue and Eshom Road across from the school’s main entrance.

James Guyer was among those who rushed over, and then waited for hours. His 16-year-old daughter was keeping him somewhat informed, texting periodically and lamenting her classroom was at the back of the school and would be the last to be let out.

“She also sent me a text saying they are patting down each student,” Guyer said.

Guyer chatted with another father, Corey Williams, who sat in the back of his pickup truck with his teenage son.

A large crowd was lined up in the church lobby, signing in with school staff, so they could subsequently be matched up with their youngsters.

“We were already in there about an hour,” Williams said.

He and his 17-year-old, Eli Williams, were waiting for Eli’s 16-year-old brother to come out.

They were told the busses would be bringing students over in groups of 20, but the first one dropped off only five or six kids, he said.

Eli Williams, a senior, said he’d been up in Tumwater at his construction trades class, when the lockdown happened and then he learned about the threat.

“I don’t really know anyone that would do that,” he said. “But a lot of things happen; someone seems really nice and goes crazy.”

Some adults stayed in their cars in the lot, several of which were parked cattywampus suggesting their minds were on more pressing matters than taking up two parking spots.

The mother of one freshman boy was contemplative as she sat with her 6-year-old and their dog.

“They were saying on the news last night, national news,  that things get stirred up, like copycats,” Lori Raab said.

Raab, a radio news director, had spent yesterday coordinating coverage of the unfolding tragedy at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, in which at least nine people were fatally shot.

Sitting on a curb, directly across from the fenced off school, were three seniors who had also been elsewhere before the campus was shut down.

Javier Corona, 17, had been at the football stadium just a few blocks to the east, doing a run through for the halftime event with his leadership class. Corona is a finalist for homecoming king.

He said he watched the police cars arriving, the first ones just driving up and the rest with lights flashing.

Jared Lee, also 17, and another student had been out shopping with his mother, a school district employee.

“We were getting scepters and flowers, and I think crowns for the king and queen,” Lee said.

Andrew Waddell, 18, said he walked into work and was told what was happening. HIs first thought was a bomb threat, he said.

“But I thought, that doesn’t make sense,” Waddell said.

Centralia School District Superintendent, Mark Davalos and Centralia High School Principal Josue Lowe periodically gave briefings, reassuring those present that everything going on was to ensure the safety of students.

At one point, a student had messaged someone a fuzzy picture rumored to be a shooter inside the building, but law enforcement figured out it actually was a snapshot of a security monitor showing one of the law enforcement officers with a rifle.

“The only weapons that have been found on Centralia High School campus today are in the hands of law enforcement officers,” Lowe told the crowd.

District spokesperson Petersen said the high school has about 1,000 students. He wasn’t certain late this afternoon exactly how many were in classes today.

Neither he nor Chief Deputy Brown knew for sure why a  Washington State Patrol bomb squad truck was on the scene. Petersen said he thought it might be part of protocol.

The state patrol did bring dogs into the school to sniff around.

They weren’t searching for bombs, they were searching for something else, Petersen said. “There was absolutely no concern for bombs or explosive devices.”

Chief Deputy Brown said although the school was cleared by about 4 p.m., she suspected the investigation would continue.

School staff would be going through the backpacks and items students left behind, she said. And there are lots of interviews to go through.

“It was a very methodical process, but it was absolutely what we needed to do to ensure their safety,” Brown said. “In light of everything that’s going on across the nation, it was imperative to handle it as we did.”

Peterson echoed her sentiments.

“Yes, it took a long time to get everyone out,” he said. “But everyone went home safe, and that’s the best we can hope for.”

To read ongoing posts and comments from the community about today’s events, go to Lewis County Sirens on Facebook.

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Corey Williams and his son Eli Williams decided they preferred to wait outside today.

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Principal Josue Lowe offers an update on Eshom Road in between the high school and the church.

Chehalis Police Officer Warren Ayers and school staff stand along the fence at Centralia High School as parents congregate at the church across the street waiting.

Updated at 4:05 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Centralia High School is in lock down now.

“Due to a specific type of threat of violence at the high school, I’m not going to release what that is now,” school district spokesperson Ed Petersen said at 11 a.m. today.

Nobody is hurt, he said. Law enforcement is on the scene.

They will be releasing students in the next hour or so to the nearby Church of God, he said.

Parents should not go to the school, he said. Parents should not go to the church either, until they are notified by the school to do so, he said.

Asked if they would be making notification through the school alert system, Petersen said yes and social media and every other way.

A joint news release issued at 11:37 a.m. stated students will be released as soon as appropriate.

“This morning at approximately 10 a.m. the Centralia School Resource Officer was notified of a note located in a classroom, which stated a student was planning on killing people during a school assembly, scheduled for the afternoon.”

At this time it is unknown if any weapons are actually at the school and the school remains in lockdown until further notice.

Students will be released to go home on the bus or be picked up by parents. Parents may wait at Centralia Community Church of God, located at Borst and Eshom.  Students who drove will be allowed to leave when appropriate.

As of about 2 p.m., only a few students had been released from the school back to their parents.

A Washington State Patrol bomb squad truck was seen leaving Tiger Stadium shortly after that. Tonight was supposed to be the homecoming game.

A large crowd has gathered at the church, mostly just waiting. Busses have dropped off students there, five or six at a time.

Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza and Centralia Police Chief Carl Nielsen made a brief appearance, standing back as announcements were made that officials hoped to speed the process up.

Before going back across the street to the school, Snaza said only, “We’re getting additional information.”

“We’ll have more information for the news when the kids are out,” he said. “Stacy (Chief Deputy Brown) put something on Facebook.”

Centralia High School on Eshom Road sits outside the city limits and is in the sheriff’s office jurisdiction.

Law enforcement has issued no updates as to its investigation into what occurred, if any weapon or weapons have been located or if they even know who is the student who may have had some plan to kill people.

A school official did include in his announcements to those gathered at one point during the day, that: “The only weapons that have been found on Centralia High School campus today are in the hands of law enforcement officers.”

More to come. To read ongoing posts and comments from the community about this, go to Lewis County Sirens on Facebook.

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Parents and others wait for students to be brought to them at a church across the street from Centralia High School.

Deandre J. Perry looks back toward the courtroom benches during his first appearance in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The third of three males suspected of a home invasion in north Centralia earlier this year was brought before a judge today in Lewis County Superior Court.

Deandre J. Perry, 26, is from Portland.

Centralia police and a deputy U.S. marshal have been looking for him since mid-July and found him in the Clark County Jail.

Perry was there on “an unrelated matter, I think maybe a probation violation or something,” Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor said this afternoon. He was transported to the local jail in Chehalis yesterday.

Hennessy Turner-White

Perry is charged with first-degree robbery and first-degree assault in connection with the events on the night of Feb. 19, when a group of males kicked in a door at the 1200 block of Marion Street, demanding cash and weed.

Dustin Palermo said he and his girlfriend had just settled into bed to watch a movie when they showed up, shot up his room and killed his dog. Charging documents in the case don’t relate what was actually stolen but Palermo had a small indoor medical marijuana grow.

Meagher asked that Perry be held on the same $100,000 bail listed on the July 15 arrest warrant. Judge Nelson Hunt agreed.

Temporary defense attorney Joely O’Rourke told the judge Perry is currently unemployed and qualified for court appointed counsel.

Brian A. Carreon

Arrested and charged in early July with one count of first-degree robbery was a 17-year-old Centralia resident, Brian A. Carreon.

Carreon’s sister from Portland, Taina Duncan, was arrested and charged with rendering criminal assistance for allegedly driving the others to the house.

Hennessy R. Turner-White, 22, from Portland, was picked up less than two weeks later and remains in the Lewis County Jail on $500,000 bail, charged with first-degree robbery and first-degree assault.

Charging documents state that Carreon told detectives Turner-White is his other Portland sister’s ex-boyfriend.

Charging documents offer the following as to how law enforcement came to focus on Perry as the third suspect:

Police were looking for the one who kicked in the door, known to Carreon only as “Dro”. A deputy U.S. marshal ran Turner-White’s name through their database, looking for his associates, and came up with Perry. Carreon identified Perry as the third person from a photo he was shown.

According to police interviews with Carreon, he had once been at Palermo’s home, and trimmed Palermo’s plants for him. He told police he’d taken a video of himself doing that, and had once shown it to Turner-White. Carreon said he received a phone call from Turner-White telling him, he knew had a connection to get weed, and was headed up.

Carreon said he felt pressured to take them there, and when one of them pulled out a gun and said they weren’t going to pay for the marijuana, he was behind them telling them to stop.

Officers found nine shell casings and two bullet jacket fragments at the scene.

Perry’s arraignment was put on the court schedule for next Thursday, when he will be represented by Jacob Clark.

Turner-White’s trial is scheduled for January.

Neither Carreon’s nor Duncan’s trials have yet taken place. The two of them have been released on unsecured bonds.

All three have pleaded not guilty.
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For background, read “Suspected gunman in Centralia home invasion held on $500,000 bail” from Wednesday July 22, 2015, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Winlock woman who helped herself to thousands of dollars worth of lottery tickets while she worked at the Flying K store and gas station in Toledo partially won her appeal, that the judge imposed a clearly excessive exceptional sentence.

Katrina M. Bowen was sent to prison for four years, twice the amount of time prosecutors recommended.

Bowen was fired in September 2013 after the owners analyzed their books and confronted her. She was charged in early 2014 with first-degree theft, and pleaded guilty soon afterward, not in connection with any plea deal.

January 2014

Bowen, then 37, stole nearly $140,000 over a period of time, saying she had a gambling problem. She also won $40,000, but the state lottery reimbursed the business owners for that portion, according to court documents.

Lewis County prosecutors included an aggravating factor that it was a major economic offense, meaning a judge would be free to hand down an exceptional sentence..

Prosecutor Eric Eisenberg recommended to Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey in March of last year that Bowen get two years. She asked for leniency based on her acceptance of responsibility for the crime. Her attorney asked that she get 90 days, the top of the standard sentencing range for a person with no criminal history.

In its opinion issued last week, the Washington State Court of Appeals acknowledged the judge was not bound by the prosecutor’s recommendation, but said the 48-month sentence was grossly disproportionate to the standard range of zero to three months.

Justice Thomas R. Bjorgen, writing for the unanimous three-member panel, wrote that the judge abused his discretion.

“We hold that the exceptional sentence was manifestly unreasonable, vacate it, and remand for resentencing,” Bjorgen wrote.

The unpublished opinion was filed Sept. 22.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sara Beigh said once she gets the mandate the appeal is final – which can take as long as 60 days – she will bring Bowen back to Lewis County for resentencing.

According to the state Department of Corrections, Bowen is currently incarcerated at Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women in Belfair.

Beigh said today that in her five years of handling appeals for Lewis County, she can’t recall a case of the appeals court saying a Lewis County judge manifestly abused his discretion.

The prosecutor’s office won’t be petitioning the state Supreme Court for a review, but still will seek an exceptional sentence, Beigh said.

It was less than four years earlier when another Winlock resident was caught stealing lottery tickets at a local grocery store where he was a longtime trusted employee and store manager. Judge Brosey gave Benjamin C. Macy 14 months in prison as Macy attempted to repay the debt. The losses to Cedar Village IGA were said to be close to $1 million.

Bowen was represented in her appeal by attorney Jodi R. Backlund from Olympia.

Backlund also argued the guilty plea was involuntary because there was not a sufficient factual basis for it, but the appeals court disagreed.
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For background, read “Winlock woman owns up to stealing thousands of dollars from her employer” from Thursday January 30, 2014, here

Onalaska firefighters work to put out grass fire off Jorgensen Road. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Fire District 1

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Just because the outdoor burn ban has been lifted, it doesn’t necessarily mean wildfire danger is over.

That’s the message from the Onalaska Fire Department who spent about an hour yesterday afternoon extinguishing a fire that popped up in a field.

Crews were called just before 2:30 p.m. to the 800 block of Jorgensen Road where they found grass burning an area of approximately 150 feet by 50 feet, according to Lewis County Fire District 1.

Assistant Fire Chief Rhonda Volk said the landowner said he was burning a stump this weekend out in the middle of a field that hadn’t been used for awhile, and thought he got it all put out.

“What happens, is fire burns down into the roots, and they can smolder for months,” Volk said.

She believes the gusty winds helped reignite it.

A crew of five saturated the edges of the area and dug down to make sure the entire stump and its roots were extinguished, she said.

The outdoor burning restrictions that were put into place in mid-June in unincorporated Lewis County were lifted on Saturday morning.

“After careful review, of the current and extended weather forecast, the Lewis County Building Official-Fire Marshal, has determined that current weather conditions within Lewis County have improved and will lift the restriction to allow outdoor burning, subject to an open burning application and permit,” Lewis County Community Development Director Lee Napier stated in a news release on Friday.

Still, officials urge residents to be attentive.

The county reminds people to supervise any outdoor burning until the fire has been extinguished and to have fire extinguishing equipment on hand.

Four large wildfires broke out in Lewis County last month in the midst of an exceptionally hot and dry summer, three of them in Onalaska. The 102-acre fire off Gish Road and the Gore Road chicken farm fire at 175 acres were bigger than any seen in three decades in areas near homes.

Even campfires were prohibited for a few weeks.

Outdoor burning in unincorporated Lewis County is limited to only natural vegetation. Always prohibited is burning any kind of garbage, paper of other refuse.

To obtain an Open Burning Application and Permit, individuals may apply on-line at http://lewiscountywa.gov/burn-permit-2 or in person at the Lewis County fire marshal’s office.

For further information concerning outdoor burning, Lewis County Building Official-Fire Marshal Doyle Sanford can be reached at 360-740-1146. The fire marshal’s office is in the Lewis County Public Services building, located at 2025 NE Kresky Avenue in Chehalis.

The Lewis County Board of Commissioners makes the rules for  areas in Lewis County that are outside any city limits and not part of any state or federal lands. For information about any of those other locations, folks can call their fire department.