Lewis County Sirens.com

DETECTIVES LOOKING FOR WITNESSES OF ASSAULT OUTSIDE BAR

• Centralia police are investigating an incident in which a 27-year-old Centralia man was attacked last night by several people outside the Hub Tavern on the 100 block of South Tower Avenue. Police were called at 1:25 a.m. by a family member who said the victim was taken over to Providence Centralia Hospital. He was contacted there by an officer as he was being transferred to another hospital, up north, Sgt. Kurt Reichert said. Little information was gained at the time as the incident had occurred a couple of hours earlier and witnesses were no longer around, Reichert said. The victim was said not to know who it was that assaulted him, according to Reichert. Detectives are looking into it, he said.

FAMILY DISPUTE

• Deputies responded about 9:15 p.m. yesterday to the 300 block of Tauscher Road near Onalaska regarding a 21-year-old man who had been drinking, who allegedly threatened family members, threatened to harm himself and also to harm others, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Travis L. Oshane reportedly punched his stepfather in the head multiple times but fled before law enforcement arrived, according to the sheriff’s office. A police dog was brought in and Oshane was located and booked into the Lewis County Jail for fourth-degree assault, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown reports.

OUTBUILDING BURGLARY

• A 68-year-old Cinebar getting ready for a hunting trip called 911 after discovering several items missing from his shop, including camo jackets, about five gallons of fuel and a saw. A deputy learned the theft at the 900 block of Burnt Ridge Road occurred sometime between Sunday and Wednesday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The loss is about $675, according to the sheriff’s office.

FRAUD

• An officer was called to Centralia Municipal Court about 11:30 a.m. yesterday regarding an allegedly forged document presented to the court. Further details were not available as the incident is under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Centralia police were called to the 3200 block of Elizabeth Court yesterday to take a report of the unauthorized used of credit card.

BENCH MISSING

• Someone stole a white wooden garden bench from in front of a home on the 400 block of North Buckner Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police yesterday evening.

THEFT OF WHIPPED CREAM

• A 32-year-old man with a Seattle address was arrested yesterday evening after he reportedly seen ingesting or huffing from two cans of whipped cream inside Wal-Mart and then selected two shirts and a black hat off racks and put them on. He told an officer responding about 6 p.m. he was just trying the items on, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Noah M. Escobar smelled of intoxicants and because he had been formally trespassed from the store on Louisiana Avenue in the past, was arrested for second-degree burglary, according to police. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

LOST AND FOUND

• A smart phone was turned onto the Centralia Police Department yesterday after being found on the 500 block of South Washington Avenue.

COLLISION

• A 36-year-old Centralia man was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital last night after the vehicle in which he was a passenger ran off U.S. Highway 12 near Gershick Road and struck a ditch. Troopers called about 10:35 p.m. to the scene about five miles west of Mossyrock report the driver, Irvin J. Weiher, 39, of Chehalis, was unhurt. Weiher had been traveling westbound when he fell asleep, according to the Washington State Patrol. His 2013 Ford F150 pickup was impounded. He was to be arrested for second-degree negligent driving, according to the state patrol. The injuries to Michael B. Kane were unspecified. Both had been wearing seat belts, the investigating trooper reports.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor assault, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, disorderly person, hit and run, protection order violation, misdemeanor theft, suspicious circumstances, request for help getting a small possum out of a woman’s laundry room … and more.

POLICE: INSIDER THEFT FROM SMALL BUSINESS

• A former bookkeeper was arrested yesterday for first-degree theft following an investigation that began this summer after a report from a concrete business with locations in Chehalis and Napavine. Chehalis police detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said police were contacted by the owner of Apex Mobile Mix on July 27. After various financial records were gathered, Wilson asked Angela D. Sawyer to come in the police department to talk with him. She showed up yesterday, but declined to be interviewed, he said. “She was working for the company and over the last two years is alleged to have taken thousands of dollars,” Wilson said. More than $50,000 is missing, he said. Sawyer, 39, was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

BURGLARY UNCOVERED

• Centralia police are investigating a burglary to a home on the 300 block of L Street. it came to the attention of police during another investigation and a person of interest has been identified, according to the Centralia Police Department.

AUTO THEFT

• Centralia police were called about 11:30 a.m. yesterday regarding a 1991 Honda stolen from an apartment complex on the 1000 block of North Schueber Road. It has a license plate reading AND 1194, according to the Centralia Police Department.

RESISTING ARREST

• A 27-year-old Olympia man was arrested yesterday evening for allegedly being uncooperative, trying to leave and trying to fight off officers’ attempts to detain him following a call to the Centralia Outlets at the 1300 block of Lum Road regarding a suspicious person trying to get into a vehicle. Kenneth J. Zawadzinski was booked into the Lewis County Jail  for obstructing and resisting arrest, according to the Centralia Police Department.

PERILS OF GUTTER CLEANING

• A 58-year-old Chehalis area man called 911 yesterday evening after he looked out his second story window and saw a stranger looking back at him. The stranger, a 38-year-old from Carter Lake, Iowa passing through on his way to Portland had spotted a ladder and rope against the side of the home on the 2300 block of Jackson Highway and thought it looked inviting, like a “hippie trail, so he climbed up it, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. They talked, the stranger asked if he could exit through the home instead of going back down the ladder and was escorted out by the resident, the sheriff’s office reports. On the way out, he asked for a beer, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. The owner had been using the ladder earlier to clean out his gutters, according to Brown. Deputies arriving after the approximately 7 p.m. incident arrested Anthony E. Kies for burglary and booked him into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office. Prosecutors declined to charge Kies with burglary and he is expected to be seen in Lewis County District Court for a lesser charge.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving with suspended license; responses for dispute, disorderly person, runaway child, suspicious circumstances, report of attempted fraud by phone, collision on city street, car versus deer on county road … and more.

Updated at 6:15 p.m.

COLLISION

• A 63-year-old man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after he wrecked his scooter-type motorcycle late yesterday afternoon along the 3500 block of Cooks Hill Road in Centralia. Responders called just after 5 p.m. found the man from Lake Tapps was wearing a half-helmet which may have come off and he had serious facial injuries and a possible head injury. It happened when he attempted a left-hand turn, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. His 2007 Yamaha XC50 had only minor damage, the sheriff’s office reports.

VEHICLE VERSUS PEDESTRIAN

• A woman was hospitalized after she was struck at a crosswalk in downtown Centralia by a small pickup truck today. Firefighters called at noon to South Tower Avenue at Cherry Street found her conscious but with suspected internal injuries, according to Riverside Fire Authority. She was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to Capt. Scott Weinert.

FROM THE COURTHOUSE

• The former Onalaska volunteer firefighter and part time substitute school bus driver was sentenced today to life in prison with a minimum of just over three years in connection with allegations of sexual abuse of a teenage relative. Richard L. Crumbliss, 44, was arrested in April and has remained held in the Lewis County Jail. Crumbliss in August admitted no wrong doing when he made a so-called Alford plea of guilt to second-degree assault with sexual motivation and second-degree child molestation. His lawyer David Arcuri said the “indeterminate” sentence means Crumbliss could be released after 37 months, or even sooner with good time. But if or when he does get out, he will be under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections for the rest of his life, so if he ever fails to abide by DOC conditions, he could be sent back to prison, Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey said during this morning’s hearing. Crumbliss would be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and would not be allowed to ever go where children congregate, according to Arcuri. Nothing under criminal law would prevent him from working again as firefighter-EMT, although since Crumbliss didn’t respond to the July temporary suspension of his EMT license by the state – stemming from the criminal allegations – the state Emergency Medical Services and Trauma System Program earlier this month imposed a 15-year suspension of his license.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving with suspended license, drunk teenager; responses for dispute, suspicious circumstances, suspected protection order violation, collisions on city streets, possibly suicidal individuals, misdemeanor theft such as a stolen shopping cart, request for assistance dealing with an elderly family member who insisted on going to Walgreens to deal with collecting money she’d been told she won  … and more.

BREAK-INS AROUND CHEHALIS

• Chehalis police were called about 11 a.m. yesterday to another shed burglary, this one on the 700 block of Southwest Cascade Avenue. Sometime during the night someone got inside the unlocked structure and left with drills, speaker, an amplifier and other items, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• Someone shattered the glass front doors to a vacant convenience store on the 3300 block of Jackson Highway outside Chehalis, according to a report made yesterday to the Lewis County Sheriff’s office. The damage is estimated at $1,000.

• A deputy was called yesterday to the 100 block of Carter Lane outside Chehalis where someone had kicked in the entry door to a shop building. Nothing was missing, but the damage is about $200, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

VEHICLE THEFT

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning that a 1997 Nissan pickup was stolen from the 200 block of Mandy Road near Toledo sometime on Saturday or Sunday. The 54-year-old owner described the vehicle as white with blue stripes and worth about $2,500, according to the sheriff’s office.

• A pickup truck belonging to the county and stolen from the the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds last month turned up yesterday abandoned on the 100 block of August Road in Cinebar. The Chevrolet S10 with a broken out back window was valued at $500, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

MARIJUANA PIPE SEIZED FROM GRADE SCHOOLER

• Police were called to Olympic Elementary School in Chehalis yesterday after a teacher was notified a fourth grader had been showing around a possible marijuana pipe. That’s what it turned out to be and the item was confiscated, according to the Chehalis Police Department. There was nothing to indicate the child had used it; he said a ninth grader gave it to him, detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said. It’s unlikely any criminal offense would be pursued, because of the boy’s young age, according to Wilson.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving with suspended license; responses for dispute, protection order violation, suspicious circumstances, collisions on city streets, misdemeanor theft such as mountain bikes stolen from a front porch  … and more.

•••

CORRECTION: This post has been updated to reflect the correct grade school where Chehalis police were called about a student with a pipe.

Updated at 3:41 p.m.

FRIENDLY THIEF: HERE KITTY, KITTY

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a burglary to a home for sale north of Winlock in which the intruder is believed to hung around and watched television as well as feeding the victim’s cat but made off with an antique tea set, a brown curtain and a table cloth. The owner, a 56-year-old Olympia man, reported on Friday that the break-in at the 100 block of Quary Lane happened sometime between Sept. 19 and last Wednesday, according to the sheriff’s office. It appeared entry was made though a bathroom window, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. The loss is estimated at $260, according to Brown.

UNFRIENDLY THEFT

• A 21-year-old Centralia man was arrested after a wheelchair was stolen from a front porch on the 1200 block of Alder Street. Centralia police took the report yesterday. Derrek J. Larson was subsequently arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail for allegedly selling the wheelchair and also for possession of methamphetamine, according to the Centralia Police Department.

THE MUSIC DIED

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports this morning that someone stole about $2,000 worth of guitars, amplifiers, speakers and other musical equipment in a residential burglary at the 100 block of Schoonover Road outside Mossyrock on Friday night. The victims are two men in their early 20s, and deputies have in a mind a person of interest, according to the sheriff’s office.

BOOZE BURGLARY

• Police were called about noon on Saturday to the 500 block of North Market Boulevard in Chehalis where money and half gallon bottles of liquor were missing from beneath the bar belonging to the American Legion group. The case is under investigation, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

GARAGE BREAK-IN

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports this morning they are referring for evaluation of charges a case in which a 23-year-old homeless man allegedly stole numerous items from a garage on the 100 block of Sheridan Street in Centralia between Sept. 15 and last Wednesday. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said deputies believe he took the skill saw, engine stand, paintball gun and tools to his sister’s house and the property was turned over to Centralia police. Still missing is a miter saw, according to Brown.

OTHER THEFT

• Centralia police were called to the 200 block of North Buckner Street on Friday afternoon about an electronic tablet missing after a friend stayed at the house.

• Chehalis police were called about 9:30 a.m. on Friday to the 300 block of South Market Boulevard where a gas can was stolen from a maintenance shed.

• Morton police were called about 6:20 p.m. on Saturday to the 500 block of Main Avenue where someone broke into a shed and stole a child’s car seat.

VEHICLE THEFT

• A green 1995 Honda Accord left about 6 o’clock on Saturday morning at the park and ride lot on the 800 block of West Main Street in Chehalis was reported missing about 2 p.m. the same day. It has a license plate of ADN 4763, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• A blue and white 199 Suzuki ATV was stolen sometime on Saturday or Sunday from an open shed on property on the 100 block of Rogers Road west of Toledo, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The value of the quad is $700, according to the sheriff’s office.

CAR PROWL

• A car was found with its door and trunk open at the Lewis County Mall about 11 a.m. Sunday. Nothing was missing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• Centralia police were called just after 1 p.m. on Saturday to the 600 block of South Cedar Street regarding a vehicle prowl in which a briefcase and flashlight were stolen.

• Someone stole a backpack from a vehicle parked at the 100 block of High Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police around 1:30 p.m. on Friday.

DOG WINS HIDE AND SEEK

• Centralia police report a 22-year-old man with an outstanding warrant was tracked down by a police dog and found hiding in a home on Saturday afternoon. The approximately 4:10 p.m. incident in connection with a location at Mellen and Marsh streets ended with Raymond C. Rhodes booked into the Lewis County Jail for burglary and his warrant, according to the Centralia Police Department.

VANDALISM

• Tires were slashed, the vehicle was scratched with something sharp and someone painted graffiti on an outside wall at the 200 block of Jastad Drive in Morton, according to a report made to police on Saturday.

PHONE THREAT

• Chehalis police were called on Saturday by an individual on North National Avenue who said they received a phone call asking them for money to prevent their power from getting shut off because their electric bill was overdue. It appeared to be a scam, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

SCAREY THREAT

• Deputies are looking for a 31-year-old Randle man who reportedly texted his ex-girlfriend on Friday night and told her to look out her front window where he was going to kill himself. He also told her not to let his children watch, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies dispatched to the area on the 9500 block of U.S. Highway 12 just before 10 p.m. did not find him and are still looking, according to the sheriff’s office. Meanwhile, the sheriff’s office is referring the case to prosecutors for a violation of a protection order, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

SMOKE ALARM, CHECK, FIRE EXTINGUISHER, CHECK

• An Adna couple was awakened by their fire alarm about 1:45 a.m. today, when a Cadet-type wall heater caught fire and filled an upstairs room with smoke. “Dad put it out with a fire extinguisher and she got everyone out,” Lewis County Fire District 6 Firefighter-Paramedic Matt McCoy said. Crews called to the home on the 100 block of Frogner Road found the parents and the two children were fine; firefighters used a thermal imaging camera to confirm all the fire was out, McCoy said. The damage was contained to the wall unit, he said.

WRECK

• Chehalis police were called to the 1900 block of Snively Avenue about 5:15 p.m. on Saturday to take a report a vehicle had struck a house. There was damage to an exterior brick facade and into the drywall, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Evidence suggested someone had been driving recklessly, police said. Nobody was injured.

• A motorcyclist ended up with a broken leg after he lost control at the 1200 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia and struck a large rock and then the side of a house yesterday evening. Police called about 6:15 p.m. report the man was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, obstructing, trespassing, shoplifting, disorderly conduct, making a false statement, misdemeanor assault, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license; responses for alarms, dispute, suspicious circumstances, collisions on city streets, wrecks on county roads; complaint of someone shooting arrows into some else’s yard, loud neighbor music, barking neighbor dog  … and more.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A former Lewis County sheriff’s deputy has filed a claim against the county alleging wrongful termination, discrimination, fraud, perjury, abuse of power and corruption among other issues including negligence and malpractice by his lawyer.

Douglas D. Lackey was fired in July 2007.

It’s not clear how much he is asking for monetarily, because that and almost all the other spaces in the standard tort claim form he submitted were left blank. Instead, he attached a five-page memo that mentions whistle-blower violations, mental and economic duress and states that he has lost track of the amount of damages the sheriff’s office has caused him.

“What amazes me is how successful they’ve been with lying and manipulating the courts,” Lackey writes. “The sheriff’s office, in my opinion, stole $360,000 from the taxpayers to defend this matter, predicated from the start on deceit.”

Lackey, 46 years old with a Vancouver, Wash. address, states in his memo he possesses documents to prove his case, records he says his attorney never produced to refute claims by the sheriff’s office administration.

He contends the administration lied repeatedly during his unemployment appeal hearing, during mediation and during arbitration.

Lewis County RIsk Manager Paulette Young said she has 60 days to either accept, deny or ignore the claim.

It was filed Sept. 15 and has been forwarded to Washington Counties Risk Pool for review, Young said earlier this week.

In his memo, Lackey describes his diagnosis of post traumatic stress syndrome after he was involved in an officer-involved shooting in March 2003 and states the diagnosis was ignored his superiors.

Following a high speed chase from Salkum to Onalaska, when the driver backed out of a ditch toward Lackey in an attempt to hit him, Lackey fired at him, striking him once in the upper left arm. The man survived.

Lackey’s memo describes a former best friend and supervisor from another law enforcement agency as harassing him endlessly after the incident and repeatedly characterizing the two as both “Natural Born Killers” since they were among the few in law enforcement to ever shoot someone.

He said he told the man it was causing him further stress and difficulty in dealing with the effects of his shooting.

Lackey states he reported the unwanted harassment to his supervisor because he didn’t know what else to do and didn’t want to be branded a rat, but was only advised to talk with a fellow deputy who’d also shot someone on the job.

The other deputy said the suggestion was ludicrous and told him he should seek counseling, Lackey wrote.

Lackey’s memo tells of repetitive nightmares, migraines, inability to sleep, starting to drink heavily, and how his continued complaints about the harassment were ignored and undocumented by his superiors.

“My agency repeatedly ignored my cry for help in dealing with him,” Lackey wrote.

The former deputy wrote about falling behind in his caseload, and of feeling haunted by a case involving torture and murder of two little boys, which he was pulled off of.

A document included with Lackey’s memo indicates the grounds for his termination were untruthfulness, though it doesn’t offer any detail.

Lackey appealed his firing to the Lewis County Civil Service Commission, a case that ended with an undisclosed agreement between the two sides in 2008.

In the spring of 2008, detectives with the Shelton Police Department reviewed Lackey’s files at the sheriff’s office before he was hired at a new job with them. But then after then-Prosecutor Michael Golden forwarded a Brady letter to the Mason County Prosecutor’s Office, Lackey was terminated from the new job.

The following year he filed a lawsuit in Thurston County Superior Court alleging the sheriff’s office breached its 2008 agreement with him.

Lackey indicates he believed the sheriff’s office agreed to delete any references of his untruthfulness from his personnel records, but in 2011, an arbitrator sided with the sheriff’s office, stating they only agreed to leave it out of his termination letter.

Lackey’s complaints about his private attorney aren’t anything the county is responsible for, according to Young. And the rest, Young suspects won’t see any action from her office.

The 60-day deadline will likely pass without the county neither accepting or denying Lackey’s claim, she said.

“We believe he’s already argued the claim in binding arbitration,” Young said.

Updated at 5:26 p.m.

ELDERLY MAN SCAMMED

• Centralia police were called to Rite Aid yesterday morning where an 84-year-old man had said he was sending money to someone so he could collect his winnings in the Oregon lottery. Officer Patty Finch said the Centralia resident was out $3,000. The case is under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.

MAD AT POLICE

• A 54-year-old Rochester man was arrested during the lunch hour yesterday after he was detained for reportedly throwing fruit and vegetables at the windows of Centralia City Hall on West Maple Street. Officer Patty Finch said she understood he had a box of tomatoes, eggs and flowers. Roy A. Dever was booked into the Lewis County Jail for third-degree malicious mischief, according to police. Finch said he didn’t ‘t give an explanation, but said he hated police because they are killers and rapists.

THEFT

• Centralia police took a report of a burglary at the 1300 block of Crescent Street yesterday in which a laptop computer and a tablet were taken. The case is under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A tablet was reported stolen yesterday from the 1200 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia.

DRUGS

• A 24-year-old Centralia resident was arrested for a warrant and possession of heroin after contact with an officer just after 2 o’clock this morning at Tower Avenue and Main Street in Centralia. Ryan L. Knutz was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

LOST AND FOUND

• If the person who lost a decent amount of cash in Chehalis can tell police the specific amount and where they lost it, they can get it back. A woman found the money on the ground in the street and brought it to the Chehalis Police Department yesterday.

CLOSE CALL

• Firefighters were called about 7:30 p.m. yesterday to an apartment complex on the 300 block of Southwest Third Street in Chehalis where folks could smell something burning in a unit where nobody answered the door. They forced the door open and found what had been a pot of corn on the cob boiling on the stove, according to Chehalis Fire Department. Nobody was home and it was very nearly turned to popcorn, Capt. Ted McCarty said. Firefighters removed the scorched pot from the stove and opened the windows, McCarty said.

TRUCK VERSUS OVERHEAD WIRES

• Northwest Chehalis Avenue was shut down for about an hour yesterday afternoon when a truck snagged a wire, snapping off the top of a utility pole. Wires were pulled down and hanging dangerously low to the street, according to the Chehalis Fire Department. Nobody was hurt.

VEHICLE VERSUS PEDESTRIAN

• A pedestrian in his 40s suffered minor injuries when he was struck by a van at Harrison and First Avenue in Centralia yesterday afternoon. It was a fairly low-speed incident, but the patient was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, trespassing, misdemeanor assault, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license; responses for alarms, misdemeanor  theft, suspicious circumstances, collision on city street, little dog with green coat on running through the streets … and more.