Lewis County Sirens.com

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputies recovered some guns in a building off Steam Boat Island Road NW / Courtesy photo Lewis County Sheriff’s Office

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – One of three suspects in a June residential burglary in rural Chehalis is now locked up in the Lewis County Jail.

Eleven guns and some sports memorabilia were among the valuables stolen from the 400 block of Coal Creek Road back on June 15.

Thirty-one-year-old Chase L. Flores, from Shelton, was arrested on Monday. He is charged in Lewis County Superior Court with residential burglary, theft of a firearm and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. His arraignment was scheduled for today.

According to charging documents in the case, one of the other two suspects last year lived with his then girlfriend and her family at the Coal Creek Road home. When interviewed at the Thurston County Jail, that suspect said he and some buddies got high in Olympia and then drove to the Chehalis home on June 15.

He said he used bath salts for the first time that day, which he thought was meth, according to the documents.

The victim got a tip from a sports card shop in Tumwater that purchased one of the stolen cards, after posting his stolen property on Facebook, according to court documents.

Lewis County sheriff’s deputies recovered several of the stolen guns and other items when they served a search warrant on June 22 off Steam Boat Island Road NW northwest of Olympia.

Court documents relate detectives were told a .38 revolver was sold, a shotgun was spray painted black and traded for heroin and meth and a 22 caliber revolver was buried in the ground near Mudd Bay.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 37-year-old Vader woman has been charged with enrolling the father of her children as her “husband” under her employer’s health insurance plan without actually being married to him.

The postal carrier allegedly signed him up when she was hired in August 2004 by the U.S. Postal Service and a tip 10 years later led to an investigation.

Juelene L. Perez Owens was charged with first-degree theft in Lewis County Superior Court and summonsed to appear before a judge yesterday.

Records show medical and prescription claims in excess of $350,000 have been paid out for the “husband”, according to court documents.

Owens was accompanied yesterday afternoon by her attorney Dana Williams. She told the judge her proper name is Juelene L. Perez-Lopez.

She pleaded not guilty.

Her conditions of release pending trial included a $5,000 signature bond.

Charging documents in the case indicate Perez-Lopez when questioned by a human resources employee in 2014 said they were not married but planned to be soon.

When interviewed by a U.S. Postal Service Inspector’s special agent, she told him she and her “spouse” met in high school in 1997, he was the father of their four children and she thought they were “common law,” according to the court documents.

The investigation was taken over by the Washington State Insurance Commissioner’s Office and a detective there found she had filed a bankruptcy petition in November 2004, claiming to be single with three children, the documents relate.

Perez-Lopez is scheduled to return to Lewis County Superior Court on Nov. 3 so a trial date can be set.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office introduced their newly hired jail chief to the agency’s Facebook friends yesterday.

Chief Corrections Deputy Chris Sweet was previously a lieutenant with the Washington State Patrol where he worked for 25 years, according to the sheriff’s office. He began his career as a trooper in East Lewis County, according to Chief Deputy Dusty Breen.

Sweet replaces former chief Kevin Hanson who left after 25 years at the end of August, to take a job as head of the jail in Mason County.

Sheriff’s Lt. Chris Tawes was promoted to acting captain and oversaw the facility in the interim. He has been promoted to captain, according to a Facebook post.

Sweet started his new job at he beginning of last week, Breen indicated.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The young man found shot to death in the brush in Capitol Forest northwest of Littlerock last week has been identified as an 18-year-old from Los Angeles.

Dakota T. Walker

The body of Dakota Tyree Walker was discovered on Thursday by a dog walker off Waddell Creek Road Southwest near the entrance to Margaret McKenny Campground, according to authorities.

Thurston County Coroner Gary Warnock indicated yesterday Walker died from multiple gun shot wounds. The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office previously said it seemed to be a recent death.

“His body appeared to have been placed there by an unknown person or persons,” Warnock said in a news release.

The coroner asks anyone with any information to please contact detective Jamie Gallagher at (360) 480-1650 or detective Ben Elkins at (360) 701-0000.

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For background, read “Detectives asking for help to identify body found near Littlerock” from Saturday October 22, 2016, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Seattle resident was arrested yesterday after PUD summoned deputies to an apparent electricity diversion and turned up an unlawful marijuana growing operation in rural Centralia.

Employees of Lewis County PUD were disconnecting the power at a home on the 700 block of Lincoln Creek Road yesterday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies called out about 1:45 p.m. arrived and detected an “overwhelming odor of marijuana,’ Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said this morning.

Drug detectives obtained a search warrant and confiscated 89 potted plants plus 220 plants which had been hanging to dry, Breen said.

The search of the residence, greenhouses and shop building also led to to the seizure of cash, a vehicle and a handgun, Breen said.

Biniam Y. Gebremariem, 31, from Seattle was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail for unlawful manufacturing of marijuana, unlawful possession of marijuana and unlawful use of a building for drug purposes, according to the sheriff’s office.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 22-year-old bicyclist was airlifted to a Seattle hospital after he collided with the trailer of a semi truck in the Chehalis Industrial Park yesterday

Firefighters and deputies were called about 12:10 p.m. to the scene at Sears and Sturdivant roads south of Chehalis.

The driver of the Kenworth tractor-trailer initially didn’t know it had occurred, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The driver, a 53-year-old Chehalis man, returned to the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.

The bicyclist, a Chehalis man, was not wearing a helmet and was thrown to the ground, according to the sheriff’s office.

Lewis County Fire District 6 Chief Tim Kinder said the patient suffered possible head injuries and was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital so he could be flown to Harborview Medical Center.

Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said security footage from a nearby business showed the bicyclist failed to yield at a stop sign and ran into the front portion of the trailer. His name was not released.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 26-year-old Rochester man was injured when his motorcycle collided with a semi truck on Interstate 5 just north of Maytown yesterday.

Troopers called about 12:10 p.m. to the scene found the 2008 Kawasaki ZR1000 was northbound near milepost 93 when it crossed all lanes of traffic and struck the northbound Volvo tractor and trailer, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Ricardo L. Santee, from Rochester, was transported to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, according to the state patrol.

His bike was totaled, the investigating trooper reports.

The semi, driven by a resident of Surrey, British Columbia, was able to be driven from the scene.

Santee had been wearing a helmet and possessed a motorcycle endorsement on his license. The cause of the wreck is under investigation.

Update Monday October 24, 2016: Santee is listed in fair condition this morning, according to a hospital spokesperson.