Lewis County Sirens.com

A team of outside law enforcement officers finished up their scene investigation this morning where a deputy fatally shot a Napavine man along state Route 6 near Boistfort.

Updated at 8:52 a.m., 9:11 a.m. and 5:06 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Lewis County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a motorist west of Adna this morning the sheriff’s office said lunged out of his vehicle with a knife.

It happened about 12:17 a.m. on the 2300 block of state Route 6, according to the sheriff’s office.

The dead man is identified only as a 64-year-old Napavine resident.

According to a news release from the sheriff’s office: The deputy was on routine patrol when he saw a car parked in a turnout and stopped to see if the driver needed assistance.

“When the deputy approached the vehicle he observed a man with, what appeared to be, self-inflicted lacerations and bleeding heavily,” the sheriff’s office states. “When the deputy tried to speak with the man, the man lunged out of his vehicle with a large knife and charged the deputy.”

The sheriff’s office says the deputy was forced to shoot to avoid being attacked.

Aid was summoned and the motorist was pronounced dead shortly after aid arrived, according to the sheriff’s office.

A team of outside law enforcement officers was summoned to the scene near Boistfort this morning to investigate.

The unnamed deputy is a nine-year veteran of the office. He is being put on paid administrative leave as is standard procedure, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.

The incident took place at a large gravel turnout just east of the South Fork Chehalis RIver Bridge near Boistfort.

The deputy was alone when it occurred, according to Brown.

Asked what made the deputy think the man’s injuries were self inflicted, she said: Because there was nobody else around.

The sheriff’s office has no reason to believe there was anyone else involved, according to Brown.

She said the dead man’s name will be released by the Lewis County Coroner’s Office, which customarily doesn’t happen until family has been notified.

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said his office is working to locate the next-of-kin and then confirm the identity of the deceased. An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow.

A stretch of state Route 6 between Spooner Road and Boistfort Road was shut down until about 6:30 a.m. for the investigation, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

It was just 16 months ago when another Lewis County deputy fatally shot another Napavine man. In June 2011, Deputy Matt McKnight opened fire on a 33-year-old man he thought was armed with a knife on a residential street in Napavine.

That incident too occurred at night time, and McKnight said Steven V. Petersen began to charge him.

The deputy was cleared but last month Petersen’s family filed a lawsuit saying McKnight engaged in a ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ approach to law enforcement.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A former Southern California woman who now lives in Glenoma pleaded guilty today to charges in connection with orchestrating a mortgage fraud scheme convincing lenders to fund more than $20 million in loans on approximately three dozen properties in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Wanda Coleman, 59, admitted to one count of mail fraud pursuant to a plea agreement filed under seal in U.S. District Court in Portland, according to authorities.

Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Robbins said Coleman had a film company and some of the proceeds were used to finance films and some for personal use.

She is a former resident of Pauma Valley in San Diego County, he said. He said he couldn’t say exactly if she had family or other connections that prompted her to relocate to Lewis County.

Robbins said Coleman recruited straw buyers who offered to pay sellers substantially more than their asking price in return for the sellers’ agreement to refund the excess amount to her or companies she controlled.

She and co-conspirators submitted mortgage applications that contained false information regarding the buyers’ employment, income and assets as well as omitted material information, according to the U.S. Attorneys’ Office.

The buyers ultimately defaulted on the loans, resulting in foreclosures and losses of more than $11 million to the lenders, Robbins said.

The indictment was filed a year ago, but covered activities from as early as 2005 and into 2009, he said. It’s the kind of scheme which was easier to pull off before the housing market crashed and transactions tightened up, he said.

Three others have pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme, as well as two more individuals in related cases, according to Robbins. The so-called straw buyers were not charged, he said.

“The mortgage broker, the escrow agent, they were all in on it,” Robbins said.

Participants also forged bank statements and prepared other fraudulent documents to corroborate the false claims, according to the U.S. Attorneys’ Office.

Robbins said he only knew of the one film Coleman was involved in called “Samurai Woman”.

The case grew out of an investigation by the FBI and originated in the United States Attorneys Office in the Central District of California. It was transferred to the District of Oregon for entry of the plea and sentencing because of the proximity to Coleman’s new residence, Robbins said.

She will be sentenced on Jan. 25 in Portland. The maximum sentence is 30 years but the details in the plea agreement are under seal for now.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

An 80-year-old Morton man who lives alone was reported missing yesterday after his grown son arrived at the man’s residence for a planned hunting outing to find nobody home.

William H. Osborne

William H. Osborne was last seen on Monday purchasing a hunting license at Tri Mountain Sports & Radio Shack in town, according to the Morton Police Department.

“We’re putting all resources into locating him, obviously time is of the essence,” Chief Dan Mortensen said this morning.

Osborne’s family describes him as possibly having some short term memory loss and he’s not very mobile because of his age, Mortensen said. He’s 5-feet 8-inches tall and about 185 pounds.

One challenge is it’s virtually impossible to activate a search and rescue mission because they have no specific location to start looking, the chief said.

Osborne’s family is in the area looking and police have alerted local law enforcement and surrounding agencies, according to Mortensen.

Osborne drives a silver 2003 Dodge Dakota pickup with a white utility canopy. Its license plate is B67640P.

He and his son spoke around 11:30 a.m. on Monday and that’s the last time Osborne’s cell phone was used, the chief said. He purchased the hunting license between noon and 2 p.m.

The son, who lives in Orting, showed up yesterday to meet his father, and then checked a local restaurant before calling police, Mortensen said.

Police tried unsuccessfully to “ping” the cell phone to learn its location, he said.

His neighbors didn’t think he came home Monday night, the chief said.

“We don’t know where he is,” Mortensen said. “His son thought he could have gone up into the mountains to shoot his gun, possibly grouse hunting.”

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Chehalis firefighter has been charged with possession of synthetic marijuana after “Spice” wrappers were found in the trash in the fire station building.

Adam Myer, 42, resigned from the department last week.

The one count of possession of a controlled substance filed in Lewis County Superior Court is a class C felony.

Myer denied using the drug during work hours.

Spice is one of numerous products that were legal until about a year ago, according to Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher.

“You used to be able to buy them over the counter,” Meagher said.

According to charging documents and Chehalis police, a police detective this summer was interviewing fire department employees about suspected thefts of small amounts of cash around the department.

That investigation didn’t lead to anything, but Chief Kelvin Johnson told the detective about a garbage bag containing suspicious empty packaging which had been discovered in the bathroom of the old police department next door.

Detective Rick Silva was told Myer spent a lot of his off-duty time at the station and at one point had spent several hours in that restroom, which his co-workers thought was odd.

The residue found with the wrappers was tested at the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab in Vancouver and had a chemical known as Naphthoylindole, which is now classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, according to charging documents.

Spice refers to a mixture of herbs typically sprayed with a synthetic compound similar chemically to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana; it is usually smoked, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

It is known by various labels including or K-2, Black Mamba, Bombay Blue, Fake Weed, Genie and Zohai, according to the DEA.

The documents allege Myer told the detective on July 20 the packaging was his, but he had not used the substance for some time and “straightened up” after a long talk with a fellow firefighter.

Chief Kelvin Johnson was unavailable to offer comment on Myer’s employment status, but co-workers yesterday said Myer last worked on July 20 and resigned last week.

Myer confirmed that yesterday, and said he didn’t want to discuss the case.

He said he has a medical condition that forced him to give up his job.

He disputed he admitted to the detective the Spice packaging was his.

“I never knowingly bought anything illegal,” Myer said. “It was a legal product bought from a store in Chehalis.”

He said it was perhaps unwise, but not against the law as far as he knew.

Myer said that after he spoke with detective Silva the first time, stores in Chehalis were still selling the product, saying he knew of three local businesses engaged in its sale for the better part of the summer.

“If they’re going to consider something illegal, they ought to prevent the sale of it, so people don’t unwittingly buy it,” Myer said.

Chehalis Police Department Deputy Chief Randy Kaut said  he isn’t aware of any businesses still selling the banned products.

It’s not something officers saw a whole lot of, although it did start to increase a little bit not long before it was banned, according to Kaut.

The Washington State Board of Pharmacy last autumn permanently banned the sale, possession and use of chemicals contained in products such as Spice, K-2, Bath Salts and others, made with either synthetic marijuana or synthetic stimulants.

An increasing number of reports from poison centers, hospitals and law enforcement prompted the DEA to control the active ingredients in synthetic marijuana beginning in March of last year. A measure signed in to federal law this summer added 26 synthetic drugs to Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.

Deputy Prosecutor Meagher said no merchants have been charged in Lewis County under the new law. Less than five individuals locally have been charged with possession, Meagher said.

Myer has been summonsed to appear in court on Nov. 6.

•••

In Cowlitz County, prosecutors recently dismissed similar charges against two individuals because at the time they possessed the substances, it was not illegal yet to possess them. Read about it here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The (Longview) Daily News reports the sheriff of Wahkiakum County died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home late yesterday afternoon.

Sheriff Jon Dearmore, 50, who was elected in 2010, spent nearly 25 years in law enforcement, and oversaw a department of five full-time deputies, a small support staff and a handful of reserves, according to news reporters Leslie Slape and Natalie St. John.

The Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.

Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson said it appears Dearmore may have been despondent over medical issues related to a lingering line-of-duty injury suffered several years ago.

Wahkiakum County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call from Dearmore’s wife about 5 p.m. when she reported he was making suicidal statements and she was concerned for his welfare, Nelson said in a statement.

“When the deputies arrived on scene, they found Sheriff Dearmore in his shop,” Nelson said. “As they entered the door to talk with him, he shot himself. Both deputies are long-time sheriff’s office employees and friends of Sheriff Dearmore.”

Wahkiakum County Undersheriff Mark Howie contacted Nelson and asked for assistance, according to Nelson. Coroner duties are being handled by Cowlitz County Coroner Tim Davidson’s office at the request of Wahkiakum County Prosecutor and Coroner Dan Bigelow.

Deputies with Cowlitz County are providing patrol services for the eastern portion of Wahkiakum County, while Pacific County Sheriff Scott Johnson’s office is providing patrol services on the west end of the county, according to Nelson.

“Sheriff Dearmore was a loved, well respected member of the Wahkiakum community, as well as the region.” Nelson said. “He was my friend, and I’ll miss him.”
•••

Read more here

Nancy Punches realizes she was in over her head.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

DRYAD – Authorities seized dozens of foxhounds from a 79-year-old woman who lives in Dryad; animals they said were living in deplorable conditions.

All but a few seemed to be well-fed but their living area was overrun with feces, according to Lewis County code enforcement officials.

Code Enforcement Supervisor Bill Teitzel said he didn’t believe she was selling the dogs.

“I think she essentially is not physically able to care for the dogs and they were breeding among themselves,” he said yesterday.

Authorities rounded up 68 or 69 canines during Friday’s operation on the 400 block of River Road, 20 of them puppies, according to Teitzel. They found one dead pup which will be examined, he said.

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Cmdr. Steve Aust said once they get the results of the necropsy, they will evaluate if there is a criminal issue of abuse or neglect.

The foxhounds are descendants of four puppies who – along with their owner Nancy Punches – survived Lewis County’s December 2007 flood while her 16 champion show dogs perished.

Punches endured a nightmarish 36-hour ordeal alone in which she was trapped inside her mobile home as flood waters rose to within inches of her ceiling. She floated upon a tipped-over antique bookcase after placing her five-week-old dogs inside a styrofoam shipping container.

Lewis County Commissioner Bill Schulte who lives in the same community about 14 miles west of Chehalis tipped off enforcement employees there might be a problem. Schulte told Teitzel early last week Punches has been a responsible dog owner for years.

“Her bond (with the dogs) is a little different than before,” Schulte said.

Punches, a longtime breeder of show dogs, has been mostly cooperative.

“I don’t want to blame it on the flood,” Punches said. “But I’m not the same person I was before the flood.”

“I always try to do too much, and it just caught up with me,” she said.

Animal enforcement employees visited Punches’ rural property a week ago and observed feces and sawdust stacked up to eight inches in the outside run area, according to Teitzel. Punches works out of town and they had a hard time catching her at home, he said.

When they returned on Friday morning with a warrant to inspect the premises, it had rained, he said.

“The first thing my staff noticed, that had totally liquified, and the dogs were wading through it,” he said.

Inside the dogs’ central building, waste was mounded to more than a foot, he said, and conditions were severely overcrowded.

They amended their warrant to allow for immediate confiscation of the dogs.

The roundup lasted until long after dark, he said. Assisting with collecting and subsequently housing the canines were animal control employees from Clark County, the city of Chehalis and the Lewis County Animal Shelter. The non-profit animal rescue group Pasado’s Safe Haven in Snohomish County helped as well.

Some went to veterinary clinics with minor leg injuries or possibly urine burned feet, according to Teitzel.

It became a struggle crating up 70-plus-pound foxhounds, he said.

“As we got about two-thirds (of the way) through, some had never been handled,” he said.

Punches, who assisted them during the wrangling, called it bedlam and traumatizing for many of the dogs.

Next-door-neighbor Jim Chown called Punches a sweet lady who has a hard time letting go of things.

“She knows every dog, she knows their names,” Chown said.

Punches spent yesterday with her adult son who traveled from his home in Burien to help his mother.

“I’ knew it was bad,” she said. “I’ve known the past couple of months I was over my head.”

It’s not for lack of trying though, she says.

At 79, she is on her feet all day, working four 10-hour days a week in the lab at Morton General Hospital. Her commute is an hour and a half each way.

That leaves about enough time and energy to feed her dogs, feed herself and sleep until her next shift, she said.

“It’s hard to get good help when it comes to shoveling (kennels),” Punches said.

She said she didn’t intend for the dogs to multiply the way they have, but the fencing between the males and females has deteriorated in places.

She’s spoke with fencing people about replacing it, as soon as she could get the money, she said. She’s talked to contractors about a replacement roof.

“I tried to get a loan, but it’s a double-wide, a used one,” she said of her home that was donated after her first one was destroyed in the flood.

They go through 150 pounds of dog food a day.

Punches has attempted to find homes for some of her dogs, spending her time off last weekend delivering four of them partway to Montana. It’s hard to choose which ones to keep, she said.

She knows for sure she would not willingly give up Noah and his sister Spirit, two of the pups that she kept warm inside her shirt as she wandered hypothermic and disoriented through her former home on Dec. 4, 2007; or Hawk, the grown dog she said had to save himself.

The generosity of strangers afterward was tremendous, she said, with cards and much-welcome and needed donations of money.

Punches chokes up and pauses, saying she doesn’t usually cry.

“People were so nice, I’m afraid when they hear about it …,” she said.

She worries those people will think their kindness then was a mistake, she said.

Her first dog show was in 1956, she said. “I’ve never had a problem like this.”

Changing the topic, she admits she doesn’t know what will happen next.

Amy Hanson from the animal shelter offered her a deal on Saturday, in which she would be willing to return four of the dogs if they are “fixed”, she said, in exchange for signing the rest of the dogs away.

Some of them are championship foxhounds, she said.

“Those dogs are valuable to the breed,” Punches said. “If they’re spayed or neutered, they’re no good to the breed.”

•••
CORRECTION: This news story has been updated to correctly reflect the number of dogs Nancy Punches lost in the December 2007 flood.

The sheriff’s office counted 47 adult dogs and 18 puppies with four of the puppies taken to Cascade West Veterinary Hospital in Centralia for treatment and one dead puppy found in a cage. Two of the animals are fox terriers, the rest foxhounds, according to Code Enforcement Supervisor Bill Teitzel. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office

•••

The dogs’ housing at the property on the 400 block of River Road west of Chehalis. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office

Updated at 1:49 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

An expected lawsuit regarding the fatal shooting by a Lewis County sheriff’s deputy of an unarmed Napavine man has been filed in federal court.

Steven V. Petersen

The sheriff’s office in a news release “vehemently denies” Deputy Matt McKnight acted recklessly or negligently in any way when he shot 33-year-old Steven V. Petersen last year.

The action filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma alleges McKnight engaged in a ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ approach to law enforcement, according to the news release.

Sheriff Steve Mansfield says McKnight did everything he was supposed to do.

An attorney for Petersen’s family has said their investigation would focus on the sheriff’s office training, supervision and decision-making in the field when using deadly force.

It happened on June 20 in Napavine, when police and deputies responded to an approximately 2 a.m. call that Petersen left stab holes in the door of his ex-girlfriend’s mobile home while trying to get inside and then left on foot.

Deputy McKnight found Petersen a few blocks away, and after Petersen refused to take his hand out of his pocket and began to charge McKnight, the deputy fired four shots, according to the account given by local authorities. The dead man had no knife.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer concluded McKnight’s use of deadly force was justified, based on an investigation conducted by outside law enforcement officers. McKnight was also cleared by an internal review at the sheriff’s office.

The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of damages, but the claim that preceded it asked for as much as $10 million.

More to come.

•••

For background, read:

• “Multi-million dollar lawsuit coming in deputy-involved shooting in Napavine” from Wednesday June 6, 2012, here

• “Details emerge in Napavine officer-involved shooting” from Saturday July 2, 2011, here