Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Corey R. Morgan pleaded not guilty this morning to second-degree murder in connection with the death late last week of his girlfriend Brenda Bail.

Morgan was arrested on Friday after he said he and Bail wrecked on a logging road near Morton but an autopsy showed the 48-year-old woman died from strangulation.

Morgan, 32, who is from Randle but lives in Chehalis according to authorities, remains held on in the Lewis County Jail on $500,000 bail.

A trial date was set for the week of Sept. 9.
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For background, read “Man suspected of killing fiancee had assaulted her before, lawyer says” from Tuesday July 23, 2013, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Chehalis man accused of helping himself to money from a fund set up for the W.F. West High School senior class pleaded guilty today, as charged.

Robert N. Downs Jr., 43, was in Lewis County Superior Court after a plea deal was worked out.

Prosecutors said Downs signed his wife’s name to checks written out to himself adding up to about $8,000. When Chehalis police announced their findings in March, they indicated that Downs’ wife had replaced the missing money.

The account was run in part by Downs’ wife. The fund comes from a tradition of parents collectively starting fundraising during their children’s freshman year to pay for graduation-related activities.

Downs, an employee at Green Hill School, pleaded guilty to first-degree theft and 14 counts of forgery.

His sentencing is set for September.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said he will be recommending a year and a day in prison, although he expects Downs’ attorney to request he be sentenced as a first-time offender, which would mean much less time.
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For background, read “Chehalis parent pleads not guilty to stealing from high school senior fund” from Thursday May 23, 2013, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The body of an elderly woman was discovered in a river in the south end of the Boistfort Valley this morning.

Firefighters and deputies were called about 10:15 a.m. to the area off Wildwood Road, about a mile from Jones Road, according to Lewis County Fire District 13.

Fire Chief Gregg Peterson said the South Fork of the Chehalis River is about a foot and half deep in that area.

“I don’t really know any of the details, we turned it over to the coroner’s office,” Peterson said.

Detectives are investigating, but the death didn’t seem suspicious, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said she expected she would have more information in the morning.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The two men charged in last month’s beating and stun gun attack of a 32-year-old Chehalis man who thought he was with them to buy drugs in Centralia have both been sentenced after plea deals were made.

Joseph M. Hanks, 30, of Rochester, pleaded guilty on Thursday to felony harassment and third-degree assault. Elijah M. Garibay, 25, from Elma, pleaded guilty the week before to second-degree assault and made a so-called Alford plea to intimidating a witness.

The reason for the modified plea for intimidation is Garibay said he was high and just really didn’t remember the reason for what he was doing, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke said.

The men were arrested the night of June 18 after fleeing the assault which occurred inside Hanks’ car outside the Peppertree Motel.

The victim told police Hanks picked him up to go buy some heroin, and then unexpectedly picked up two other men.

Charging documents state once they arrived at the motel, they called the victim a snitch and Garibay from the backseat put his arm around the victim’s throat and choked him and then zapped him with a Taser; Hanks punched him in the face.

O’Rourke was convinced it was simply a beating in the guise of a drug deal. The victim had testified the week before against a man subsequently convicted of burglarizing a Napavine bar, although O’Rourke said he felt it might be related to some other individuals.

O’Rourke never acknowledged if Thomas Pennypacker was a confidential informant.

Pennypacker’s $60 was handed over to a third unidentified man who walked away from the vehicle and has not been named or found, according to O’Rourke.

Garibay and Hanks each ended up with sentences of 27 months in prison.
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For background, read “Prosecutor: Intimidation appears to be motive behind attack on man at Centralia motel” from Thursday June 20, 2013, here

Crews extinguish a blaze that destroyed Rochester mobile home, shop. / Courtesy photo by West Thurston Regional Fire Authority.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Investigators are looking into the cause of a fire in a Rochester mobile home park that displaced a father, his young daughter and two other adults early this morning.

“One of the occupants woke up and saw a glow outside,” Chief Robert Scott said. “He alerted everyone, got everyone up and by then the smoke was in their hallway.”

Crews responding just before 5 a.m. to the area at 185th Avenue Southwest near Marble Street found the single-wide mobile home fully involved in flames, according to West Thurston Regional Fire Authority.

The fire spread, also destroying a shop and heavily damaging a carport and two vehicles parked there, according to Scott.

The child, who Scott said is 4 or 5 years old, was evaluated for smoke inhalation. Nobody else was injured.

The cause is as yet unknown, but the investigation is focusing on a point of origin outside the structure, Scott said.

A total of 25 firefighters from five departments responded.

Scott said it was in the Tanglewood Mobile Home Park. An adjacent mobile home less than 20 feet away sustained some damage from the fire as well, he said.