Archive for September, 2010

News brief: Elderly Lakewood man missing south of Randle

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Searchers are looking for an 84-year-old mushroom picker in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest south of Randle who was reported missing about 6:15 p.m. yesterday.

The Lakewood man was last seen about 3:30 p.m. in the Adams Fork Campground area, about 15 miles northwest of Mount Adams in Skamania County, according to the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office.

Ground search teams and an aircraft with infrared radar have been requested though the Washington State Department of Emergency Management, according to a news release this morning.

Skamania County Undersheriff Dave Cox said efforts are being concentrated in an area of about one-square mile. The terrain is fairly flat there, Cox said in the news release.

Cascade Dogs search and rescue unit out of Lewis County is assisting, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

The man’s name was not released. Cox noted it is unknown if he has any medical conditions.

News brief: Former equestrian center developer convicted of illegally filling wetlands

Monday, September 20th, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A would-be developer of property near Toledo that many hoped would become home to a $70 million regional equestrian center pleaded guilty this morning to federal criminal charges in violation of the Clean Water Act.

Philip A. Smith, 53, of Chehalis, faces a maximum of three years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000 per day of violation when he is sentenced in January in U.S. District Court, according to a news release.

Smith sought to strike a deal with promoters of what was dubbed the Southwest Regional Equestrian Center and conducted land clearing over a period of two years ending in late 2007 on property he owned off the southeast quadrant of Interstate 5 at the Toledo-Winlock interchange.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Seattle a year ago for allegedly dumping fill material onto wetlands without the required permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Smith had a permit to log part of the 190 acres he owed, but had no state or federal permit to disturb the wetlands, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Much of the property is covered in wetlands and small streams that drain into Lacamas Creek, which flows into the Cowlitz River and ultimately the Columbia  River. Neither Smith or anyone associated with the project ever applied for the required permit, according to the news release.

The equestrian center deal fell through after he was fined by the state Department of Ecology.

Smith was ordered in early 2008 by the Environmental Protection Agency to restore the disturbed wetland, but has not done so, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. A separate civil case has been filed requiring the restoration.

This morning’s plea in Tacoma prompted a prepared statement from U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkin.

“We will not allow developers to violate environmental laws to line their pockets,” Durkin said. “These vital wetlands were damaged in a failed bid to make a substantial profit. We will work with local, state and federal regulatory agencies to prosecute those who damage our treasured public resources for their personal gain.”

Smith, reached by telephone, said he had no comment this evening.

He pleaded guilty today to damaging approximately 98 acres, admitting in his plea agreement to excavating wetlands and stream channels and redepositing or discharging the materials into waters of the United States.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Monday, September 20th, 2010

VEHICLE TAKES OUT UTILITY POLE AND POWER IN BOISTFORT VALLEY

• A Curtis resident was arrested for driving under the influence after a wreck early Sunday morning that left a utility pole cut in half and knocked power out in the Boistfort Valley. Lewis County Fire District 13 responded  after the approximately 3 a.m. incident on the 500 block of Curtis Hill Road. An unoccupied red Ford Expedition was found about 25 feet down an embankment, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said this morning. The driver had left to get help and returned to the scene, according to Fire Chief Gregg Peterson. Malaney S.M. Whitesel, 25, was arrested for DUI, according to the sheriff’s office.

ASSAULTS

• Deputies went looking for a 22-year-old Chehalis man after he allegedly returned to a Chehalis area home intoxicated early Saturday morning and struck his 19-year-old brother in the head and face. The victim was seen at Providence Centralia Hospital, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office is asking prosecutors to charge the 22-year-old with second-degree assault, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said this morning.

• Zachery K. Greene, 36, of Centralia, was arrested Friday morning for second-degree assault after he allegedly swung a short, but heavy three-pronged garden tool at his father, according to the Centralia Police Department. The victim locked himself inside the house at the 1300 block of Central Boulevard after the 9:30 a.m. call. Greene was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

MOTEL WORKER ARRESTED FOR STEALING FROM EMPLOYER

• A 50-year-old employee of a Centralia motel was arrested on Friday morning for first-degree theft following an investigation of embezzlement, according to Centralia police. Mohan Singh Bajwa was booked into the Lewis County Jail for theft at the Rodeway Inn on the 700 block of Harrison Avenue, according to police Sgt. Kurt Reichert.

SEARCH OF ROCHESTER HOME TURNS UP BUNDLES OF METH, SHERIFF’S OFFICE SAYS

• A 48-year-old Rochester resident was booked into jail after a search of his residence turned up packages of methamphetamine totaling almost a half pound and a $400 bass guitar stolen out of Olympia. Thurston County Sheriff’s Office deputies went to the home on the 6600 block of 188th Avenue Southwest on Friday morning after a tip received following a 6 a.m. traffic stop. Deputies found scales, scanners, syringes and other items that led them to arrest Stephan R. Conophy, 48, for unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, sheriff’s Lt. Chris Mealy said this morning. Deputies seized $900 cash, a 1991 Cadillac Seville and a late model Honda Prelude from the residence, Mealy said.

DRIVE-THRU CUSTOMER EXPOSES HIMSELF IN ROCHESTER, SHERIFF’S OFFICE SAYS

• A 59-year-old Chehalis man was arrested Saturday morning after a 19-year-old employee at a Rochester coffee stand – where the workers are allowed to wear attractive attire – called the sheriff’s office to tell them a drive-through customer was masturbating when he purchased his coffee. A deputy who responded about 8 a.m. to the Graba Java on the 19,500 block of Ivan Street learned that the customer gave the barista a $5 tip and complimented her on her underwear, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. She was outfitted in a short top, underwear and net stockings, according to the sheriff’s office. She also gave the deputy the man’s license plate. Derald L. Harp, 59, was contacted by a Chehalis police office at his residence and arrested by a deputy for indecent exposure, sheriff’s Lt. Chris Mealy said. He as booked into the Thurston County Jail, Mealy said.

ATV DUI

• Deputies making a traffic stop of a speeding ATV with no headlights on Koontz Road early Sunday morning arrested the driver, Kyle P. Hamshaw, 20, of Chehalis, for being under the influence, driving with a suspended license and then, being in possession of suspected marijuana, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning.

STOLEN VEHICLES

• Centralia police are asking anyone with information about a stolen 1988 Honda to call 911. An officer took a report from the 500 block of North Tower Avenue on Sunday morning about the theft of the car, black with black rims and bearing the license plate 010 ZZX.

• Chehalis police took a report on Saturday about a missing Chevrolet Suburban that had been left parked the night before near a downtown bar.

• Two individuals were arrested for possession a stolen vehicle after police were called to a shoplifting incident about 11:30 a.m. yesterday at the Outlet Mall on the 100 block of West High Street. Nicole A, Shoemaker, 22, of Puyallup, and Sothea Chum, 29, of Roy, were booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

CAR PROWL ARREST

• Centralia police arrested a 36-year-old woman about 10:30 p.m. last night for vehicle prowl after witnesses observed her getting into a vehicle on the 700 block of Harrison Avenue. Jonni Rayne Wood, of Centralia, was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

BURGLARIES AT UNOCCUPIED PROPERTIES

• Somebody broke into a Rochester residence being remodeled and stole  a television, a lamp, silverware and a 5000-watt generator, according to a report made to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday. It happened on the 13,000 block of U.S. Highway 12 sometime between Thursday and Sunday, a Chehalis man who owns the property told a deputy.

• Tools were stolen from a pump house at a piece of property being fixed up to be sold on the 17,100 block of Moon Road Southwest in Rochester, according to a report made Friday morning to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.

OTHER BREAK-INS

• Five hundred dollars of copper wire and brass tubing were reported stolen from the 18,100 block of Moon Road Southwest in Rochester sometime between 10:30 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. on Sunday, according to a report made to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.

• Nothing appeared to be missing but somebody broke into a south Rochester fire station sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning and broke a window and left the front door open, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. It happened on the 10,300 block of Langworthy Road Southwest.

VEHICLE WINDOW BROKEN

• Centralia police took a report of a broken windshield yesterday at the 900 block of West Plum Street. Police report they have a suspect in the incident.

BICYCLE VERSUS TRUCK

• Centralia police reported a bicyclist ran a red light and rode into the side of a truck about 12:30 p.m. on Saturday at the 1600 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia.

News brief: Olympia murder suspect will be back soon to plead to Lewis County drug charges

Sunday, September 19th, 2010
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Robert John Maddaus Jr. listens to proceedings in Lewis County Superior Court on Friday afternoon.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Robert John Maddaus Jr. appeared only briefly in court on Friday in Chehalis in connection with charges related to possession of pounds of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin, but will be back. He had to return to jail in Thurston County on his first-degree murder case.

The 40-year-old whose residence is listed in court papers as Rochester has no current address and no current income, defense attorney Bob Schroeter told a judge Friday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.

Maddaus’s indigent status qualified him for a court-appointed attorney.

He is charged in Lewis County with possession of each of the three drugs with intent to deliver, as well as unlawful possession of a firearm.

Charging documents in his Lewis County case describe what detectives found in a red Corvette after Maddaus and the driver, Robert S. Russell of Centralia, were stopped last November in Chehalis.

Besides the drugs in a green backpack,  there was $35,092 cash, digital scales and packaging materials, court documents allege.

A nine millimeter handgun was found on the floorboard under some mats on the passenger side of the car, according to charging documents. It had nine rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber, authorities allege.

Maddaus is scheduled to return to Lewis County on Sept. 30 to make his pleas.
•••

Read the full story behind the police pursuit last November and why detectives say Robbie Russell was driving a red Corvette with a wanted murder suspect in the passenger seat, here.

Charges dropped in Chehalis drive-by shooting, new charges filed

Sunday, September 19th, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Tenino resident initially accused of being the gun man in a Chehalis drive-by shooting was in court again last week after charges against him were dismissed but prosecutors made new allegations.

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Ruben Alberto Palomares

Authorities now say Ruben Alberto Palomares, 25, threatened a witness and possessed false identification.

Palomares turned himself in just days after police were called to a residential neighborhood when somebody in a red Chevrolet Blazer stuck a pistol out the window and fired a round that struck an unoccupied vehicle early on Aug. 7. Police believe it was gang related.

His 24-year-old wife Christina Palomares remains in custody, having been arrested and charged for being the driver. A Chehalis man and a Centralia man detectives believe were also in the Blazer remain at large.

Witnesses in the case implicated two different individuals as the shooter, according to charging documents. The alleged intended target, Rolando Carrillo Cruz, told a police detective he was certain it was Andrew Morales-Loberg somebody he’s known since they were children; yet Christina Palomares pointed to her husband, according to the documents.

Defense attorney Don Blair filed a motion to dismiss the charges against his client, Ruben Palomares, arguing the wife’s statements against her husband should be inadmissible because her information came from privileged marital communications. Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey agreed on Tuesday, and agreed the remaining facts were insufficient to sustain a charge against Ruben Palomares.

Ruben Palomares on Thursday pleaded not guilty to the new charges of tampering with a witness and forgery. His bail, previously set at $1 million, has been reduced to $25,000.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Steve Scott alleges in charging documents that Ruben Palomares called his sister-in-law and ended up speaking to his mother-in-law in the days after the shooting incident and told her, “If they or anyone else snitch on me, I will take care of it.” He also allegedly said to tell his wife she “needs to keep her mouth shut.”

The couple, according to attorneys, have three children and have been married almost four years.

Christina Palomares has told more than one story to police detectives, including that she was at home in Tenino at the time the incident happened in Chehalis.

The other new charge against Ruben Palomares comes from a Washington State identification card his sister-in-law handed over to detectives.

According to charging documents, the card shows his photo but is in the name of Martin Ledesma, with a birthdate of January 23, 1969 and the Palomares’ home address.

He worked almost five years – until March – at a fabricating company in the Chehalis Industrial Park, under the name of Ledesma, according to charging documents.

Ruben Palomares is a former Rochester High School student who has lived in the area since he was six years old, according to an attorney who represented him at his first court appearance.

A copy of his marriage certificate in his court file lists his birthplace as Mexico.

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Andrew Morales-Loberg

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Juan Valentino Vasquez

Chehalis police continue to seek two men wanted as suspects in the drive-by shooting. They are Morales-Loberg, 19, of Chehalis; and Juan Valentino Vasquez, also known by his street name “Grover”, 24, of Centralia.
•••

To read a previous story with more details of what prosecutors allege occurred in the drive-by shooting, click here.

And, “Mother of three charged in Chehalis drive-by shooting, husband turns self in” click here.

Hummer versus house: Ends in a draw?

Saturday, September 18th, 2010
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Fire department officials decide to leave a Hummer supporting a house it hit this morning in Centralia until something else can be found to hold up the wall.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – A big black Hummer missed a turn at the bottom of Seminary Hill in Centralia early this morning and wound up lodged into the side of a two-story house.

Nobody was seriously hurt but a resident inside was “jolted” and sustained minor injuries, according to police.

The vehicle knocked the house off some of its piers so the residence on the 500 block of East Maple Street was evacuated, Centralia police Sgt. Kurt Reichert said this morning.

Yellow caution tape surrounded the scene still this afternoon and the Hummer will remain there until the wall can be supported with something other than the vehicle.

“We didn’t feel like we could safely remove it,” Riverside Fire Authority Assistant Chief Rick Mack said.

Neighbor Nick Anderson said the wreck woke him up just after 5 a.m.

“By the time I got my shoes on, they were already out of the car,” Anderson said.

It’s hardly a new experience for Anderson who said over the years other drivers coming down the hill too fast have hit his porch, two of his trees and once, destroyed his dog’s house.

“Last Thanksgiving I had my truck parked there and it got totaled, the other day it was two garbage cans,” Anderson said. “It happens quite often actually.”

Reichert said the driver, Ruben Arceo-Garcia, 41, of Centralia, was given a citation for “speed too fast for conditions”.

News brief: Few details about police activity at Harrison Avenue used car dealer

Saturday, September 18th, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – Centralia police issued a news release this morning saying they assisted with a multi-jurisdictional task force narcotics-related arrest Thursday on Harrison Avenue.

Law enforcement officers were at Emmanuel Auto Sales in between Fords Prairie Avenue and Russell Road for a few hours the other day, according to a neighbor.

Centralia police indicated a federal law enforcement agency was the lead on the case. Further details weren’t released.

A woman at the business this afternoon declined to comment. County records show the property is owned by Donato and Irma Valle-Vega.