Archive for January, 2011

Rochester man testifies he didn’t kill Shaun Peterson

Monday, January 31st, 2011
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Robert J. Maddaus Jr. answers questions from his attorney in Judge Christine Pomeroy's courtroom.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – Robert J. Maddaus Jr. took the witness stand today and admitted he spent a weekend trying to find who had robbed his Rochester home of drugs and money but denied he suspected Shaun Peterson, denied having a gun and denied shooting Peterson.

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Shaun Allen Peterson

The now-41-year-old answered questions in Thurston County Superior Court about the weekend beginning Nov. 13, 2009 and the days after until he was picked up in Chehalis.

His defense attorney Richard Woodrow asked him why he didn’t call the police.

Maddaus suggested he was stalling until police figured out what really happened.

“I knew there was a warrant for my arrest, I was waiting for it to blow over,” Maddaus said. “I mean, come on, they were gonna find out who did it.”

The Rochester man spent about an hour and a half answering questions today. Woodrow asked him directly: “On Nov. 16, 2009, did you kill Shaun Peterson?

“No,” Maddaus said.

“Who did?” Woodrow asked.

“I think Matt Tremblay,” Maddaus said.

Maddaus is on trial for first-degree murder and other charges in the 40-year-old Tumwater man’s death. Peterson was found handcuffed and dying in Olympia on Capitol Boulevard outside a drug dealer’s apartment.

Twelve jurors plus three alternates – consisting of 12 women and three men – began hearing the case on Jan. 12 in Judge Christine Pomeroy’s courtroom.

Some 30 spectators crowded the Olympia courtroom today to hear what Maddaus had to say.

He began by saying he’d known Peterson about six months.

“It started out drugs. I sold him drugs, he got drugs from me,” Maddaus said. “We kind of became friends.”

He spoke of being out with other friends smoking methamphetamine when he got  a call from his mother letting him know his mobile home had been robbed.

While witnesses for the prosecution have described that Maddaus returned home and assaulted a 25-year-old woman staying with him he believed was involved, Maddaus agreed he was suspicious of her, but said he grabbed a can of bear mace she was holding and it accidentally sprayed them both.

The door to the bedroom was kicked in and then, “It clicks, my safe is open, it’s still there,” he said.

“Oh yeah, obviously somebody had the combination,” he said.

He explained he began making phone calls and then, with acquaintances, visiting people over the next three days.

“All kinds of people,” he said. “Everybody I knew in the drug world, or that knew somebody in the drug world, I was trying to contact.”

Maddaus said he went to a house in Tumwater to see a guy who had methamphetamine that looked like his. Jason Juneau said he’d gotten the dope from Robbie Russell so Juneau bought some more from Russell in Chehalis and the two men compared it, he said.

Maddaus said he got a call from someone who said there was a recording of some people talking about robbing somebody.

He, Tremblay and a couple other people listened to it in Lacey, he said.

“Did you recognize any voice?” Woodrow asked.

“No,” Maddaus said.

Maddaus said he wanted to talk with Peterson about it, since the other person sounded like “Fat Nate.” Peterson knew where “Fat Nate” lived, and Maddaus didn’t, he testified.

On the night of Nov. 15, he and Peterson met Tremblay at the Olympia apartment of Daniel Leville and Falyn Grimes to listen again. Tremblay had a better recording of it and they played it over Leville’s speakers, he said.

“When I got there, it was just Dan, Falyn and Jesse,” he said.

The couple wouldn’t let Peterson inside unless he was handcuffed, Maddaus said.

While Jesse Rivera has previously testified he sat in Maddaus’s car in the Lacey Fred Meyer parking lot and watched Maddaus hold a gun to Peterson’s head while telling him to put handcuffs on, Maddaus said today Peterson did not have the handcuffs until after the two arrived at the apartment.

“I’m sure he didn’t love it, but he wanted to clear his name,” Maddaus testified.

Maddaus said he did not have a gun, but he saw Rivera holding a gun inside the apartment.

They were preparing to leave to talk with another person whose voice seemed to be on the recording, he said.

“Shaun said, ‘are you gonna take these cuffs off?’ ” Maddaus said. “I said, as soon as we leave, I will take them off.”

Soon, Peterson went out the door, Maddaus said.

“I heard the commotion, I seen Matt go out,” he said. “I grabbed my cell, me and Dan started heading to the door … Right as I was going to the door, the shots were fired.”

Maddaus said he saw Tremblay running toward his car and saw Peterson stumbling up the street.

“I ran towards Shaun, he fell down before I got to him,” he said.

Tremblay, in Maddaus’s Jetta, drove past him a bit and stopped, Maddaus said. He got in.

Tremblay stalled the car repeatedly, and Maddaus told him to get out, which he did, but then he got in the passenger side, he said.

“I drove to Rochester,” he said.

“Why?” his attorney asked.

“Because I wanted to get out of there,” he said.

“Why didn’t you call the cops?” Woodrow asked.

“I don’t call cops,” he said. “When you’re in my world, it’s the worst thing you can do.”

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau spent about 40 minutes cross examining Maddaus.

He focused on conversations Maddaus had after that night with a tattoo artist and drug dealer Theodore Farmer, contemplating getting help with an alibi.

Maddaus agreed with Bruneau that he hid out at friend’s and motels, wore a long wig and arranged to have his Jetta painted. He admitted that he acquired the handcuffs and that he sold drugs.

Maddaus agreed with Bruneau who pointed out Maddaus was robbed and angry about it. Money and several pounds, Maddaus agreed.

“And you would have killed to get it back,” Bruneau said.

“No,” Maddaus said.

“You killed in retaliation,” Bruneau said.

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Maddaus said.

“Mr. Maddaus, since you cannot resort to the law, you have to resort to your own rules, you have to resort to force,” Bruneau said.

“You handcuffed Shaun Peterson,” Bruneau said.

“No,” Maddaus said.

Maddaus is charged with first-degree murder, four counts of witness tampering and unlawful possession of a firearm. He is also charged in the same case with attempted kidnapping and second-degree assault of 25-year-old Jessica Abear.
•••

Read about:

• Witnesses point to Maddaus’ friend as shooter, here

• Tremblay testifies Maddaus shot Peterson, here
• Inside the apartment that night, here
• The robbery at Maddaus’s Rochester mobile home, here
• Day one of Maddaus’s trial, here
• Why the first jury pool had to be dismissed, here
• Why Maddaus was convicted of just simple possession in Lewis County last month, here
• How Maddaus refused to testify against Robbie Russell in September, here
• How Russell and Maddaus tried to outrun sheriff’s deputies a week and a half after Peterson’s death, here

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Robert J. Maddaus Jr. and his attorney last week in Thurston County Superior Court when witnesses for the prosecution testified.

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Robert J. Maddaus Jr. during a break in trial proceedings last week.

Breaking news: Leader of Kelso meth trafficking ring gets long prison term

Friday, January 28th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

This news story was updated at 3:21 p.m.

The former Toledo man described as the leader of a meth distribution ring that flooded the streets of Southwest Washington with the drug was sentenced today to 13 years and four months in prison.

Anthony Wayne Reisbeck, 43, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

The U.S. Attorneys Office describes him now as a Silver Lake resident.

The organization distributed pound quantities of methamphetamine per week in the Kelso-Longview area, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Reisbeck was arrested in February of last year after selling methamphetamine several months earlier to a person working in law enforcement, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. A search of his car turned up $6,100 in currency, marijuana and 338 grams of meth, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Two of his so-called sub-dealers were each sentenced to 10 years in prison in recent weeks. They are Randy Scott Chalupa, 47, of Kelso and Michael J. Waddington, 24, of Silver Lake.

The last of the federally charged co-conspirators, Erica Deann Lewis, of Toledo, is set to be sentenced next month.

Following his arrest, Reisbeck continued to try to run the drug ring by making calls from jail, according to a news release this afternoon.

In his sentencing memo Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Backhus wrote: “Through reputation, intimidation and sheer force of will, Reisbeck was able to control his organization while in custody.”

Backhus noted Reisbeck controlled access to the source-supply, recruited and managed street level meth dealers, ordered others to collect drug debts for him and demanded dealers pay him a “tax” on the methamphetamine they sold.

His sentence includes five years of supervision after his release from prison.

•••

Read about:

“Man who took over after meth ring leader from Toledo was arrested gets 10 years, feds announce” from Friday Jan. 21, 2011 here

“Cowlitz County man gets 10 years for his role in meth ring with ties to Toledo” from Thursday Dec. 30, 2010 here

“To read the latest on Toledo meth trafficking suspects …” from Tuesday Aug. 10, 2010 here

“News Brief: Alleged meth ring defendants handed over to feds” from Wednesday June 9, 2010 here

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Friday, January 28th, 2011

KNIFE ASSAULT

• Centralia police reported yesterday an 18-year-old man stabbed himself with a knife after assaulting two family members at the 1000 block of Scammon Creek Road. Matthew W. Duncan, of Centralia, was hospitalized after the Wednesday evening incident and police arrested him for misdemeanor assault but left him in the care of the hospital, according to the Centralia Police Department.

ROCHESTER MAN FINDS HIS OWN STOLEN STUFF FOR SALE

• An off-road vehicle valued at $4,000 was recovered after a Rochester resident spotted his stolen ORV for sale on Craigs List, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The owner responded to a listing and went to the 1600 block of Big Hanaford Road outside Centralia on Wednesday where he concluded the vehicle was his, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said. The seller claimed they had gotten in trade for a motorcycle from Yelm, Brown said.

THEFT AND BURGLARY

• Several guns and knives were reported stolen from a trailer on the 1200 block of West Main Street in Centralia early yesterday morning, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A 22 gauge shotgun and a British rifle were among the items missing from an RV on vacation property east of Randle, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning. A deputy called on Wednesday to the 100 block of Bevin Lake Road was told by the owner somebody stole the guns and other items sometime since November 1, according to the sheriff’s office.

• A bottle of cologne and $7 in quarters were stolen in a burglary to a residence on the 500 block of Brown Road East outside of Chehalis, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported yesterday. It happened sometime between 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesday, the sheriff’s office reported.

• Centralia police were called to a burglary at a business on the 2300 block of North Pearl Street on Wednesday afternoon.

• Centralia police took a report of a vehicle prowl on the 400 block of Oak Street in Centralia yesterday.

• Chehalis police were called to a vehicle prowl on Wednesday morning on the 300 block of Southwest Third Street.

VANDALISM

• Centralia police were called yesterday about two tires being slashed at the 500 block of East Maple Street.

• An officer was called yesterday to the 400 block of Union Street in Centralia abut someone shooting BBs through windows.

JUDGE FINDS MARIJUANA PIPE IN COURTROOM

• A 24-year-old Centralia man who got in trouble for leaving a marijuana pipe in a courtroom subsequently helped detectives solve a burglary in which more than $6,000 in property, including a Ruger pistol, had been taken, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported yesterday. Albert D. Melton, 24, was in a Lewis County courtroom in Chehalis last week and told by a judge to wait in the jury box to be taken to jail, Chief Stacy Brown said. Later, the pipe was found where he had been sitting, she said. When asked later by a detective if he knew why he was talking to him, Melton reportedly spilled information about an October burglary on the 2800 block of state Route 508. The information led to two burglary arrests; one for Melton and another for Byron K. Sedrick, 31, of Centralia, according to Brown.

Witnesses point to Maddaus friend as shooter

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – Two individuals testified yesterday Matthew Tremblay told them he was the one who shot 40-year-old Shaun Peterson, after a Rochester man was jailed and charged with Peterson’s death  in Olympia.

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Shaun A. Peterson

Robert J. Maddaus Jr., 41, of Rochester, is on trial for first-degree murder in Thurston County Superior Court. Tremblay, 30, has testified he was with Maddaus the night Peterson died, but said Maddaus fired the shots.

Maddaus was a supplier to Tremblay and Peterson, who both were drug dealers, according to previous testimony.

Peterson was found handcuffed and fatally shot early the morning of Nov. 16, 2009 on Capitol Boulevard in Olympia. Maddaus had been trying to track down who’d robbed his Rochester mobile home of five pounds methamphetamine and $30,000, according to Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau.

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Robert J. Maddaus Jr.

As the trial moves through its third week, Maddaus’s attorney Richard Woodrow has begun calling witnesses for the defense.

Kyle G. Collins, 27, took the stand yesterday and described running into Tremblay about two months after the homicide, and driving around smoking methamphetamine together.

They had a conversation about it, Collins testified.

“He started crying, said it was an accident and said he was the one that shot Shaun Peterson,” Collins said.

Another witness, 23-year-old Miguel Rodriguez yesterday described meeting with Tremblay in December 2009 at a Motel 6 to purchase methamphetamine.

They talked about what happened in Olympia the month before, Rodriguez said.

Tremblay kept saying he knew Maddaus didn’t shoot Peterson, Rodriguez testified.

He said, because he was the one that killed him, Rodriguez said.

Also in court yesterday, a man who described himself as Tremblay’s drug dealing partner told the jury he was asked to retrieve what he thought was the murder weapon from Tremblay’s motel room soon after the shooting.

David “Nate” Hoffman testified he had his girlfriend pick it up and he made plans with Tremblay to leave town.

Two other witnesses testified yesterday being told by people who were in the Capitol Boulevard apartment of Dan Leville and Falyn Grimes that Maddaus was inside when the shots were heard outside. Leville and Grimes have testified both Maddaus and Tremblay were outside with Peterson.

Maddaus is charged with first-degree murder, four counts of witness tampering and unlawful possession of a firearm. He is also charged in the same case with attempted kidnapping and second-degree assault of a 25-year-old woman he suspected of being involved in stealing his drugs and money.

•••

Read about:
• Tremblay testifies Maddaus shot Peterson, here
• Inside the apartment that night, here
• The robbery at Maddaus’s Rochester mobile home, here
• Day one of Maddaus’s trial, here
• Why the first jury pool had to be dismissed, here
• Why Maddaus was convicted of just simple possession in Lewis County last month, here
• How Maddaus refused to testify against Robbie Russell in September, here
• How Russell and Maddaus tried to outrun sheriff’s deputies a week and a half after Peterson’s death, here

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

CITY VOTES TO TURN OFF NAPAVINE FIRE DEPARTMENT’S ROOFTOP SIREN

• The siren that sounds when Napavine firefighters get a call may be silenced after city council members last night voted unanimously to amend the city’s noise ordinance. Mayor Nick Bozarth says the move was prompted by the fire department’s roof top “air raid” siren which broke it’s several-year silence the morning after the department’s November levy failure. The fire department has told the city they began using the siren to clear traffic for outgoing emergency vehicles, according to Bozarth. The restriction took the fire department by surprise, according to a news release this morning from Lewis County Fire District 5. Lt. Laura Hanson wrote the department was “not afforded the courtesy of notification of the drafting of the ordinance.” Hanson wrote the district remains committed an acceptable resolution to the issue. Bozarth notes the city thinks lights and sirens on the emergency vehicles are sufficient.

GUN, SAFE AMONG ITEMS TAKEN IN RANDLE BURGLARY

• Somebody broke into a Randle area home yesterday and made off with a safe, a revolver and other valuables totaling more than $1,200, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy called to the 300 block of Cline Road was told it happened sometime between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. yesterday, the sheriff’s office reported. Among the missing items were a fireproof Sentry brand safe, a .357 Smith and Wesson, an HP laptop computer, a digital camera and several necklaces, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said. A door was damaged as well, Brown said.

THEFTS

• Police were called about 1 p.m. yesterday to the 1600 block of South Gold Street in Centralia to a reported car theft. A red 1992 Geo Metro was taken sometime overnight, according to  the Centralia Police Department. Its license plate reads 144 ZMO.

• Centralia police took a report of a vehicle prowl about 3:30 p.m. yesterday from the 300 block of N Street. Missing were 10 CDs, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Centralia police took a theft report from an individual about 2 p.m. yesterday at the 600 block of South Tower Avenue. When the victim came out of the store, his bicycle and backpack were missing, according to the Centralia Police Department.

DRUGS

• Chehalis police yesterday arrested arrested a Chehalis woman for allegedly dealing heroin. Stacy L. Cook was arrested at her home for two counts of delivery of heroin, in connection with a previously investigated case, according to the Chehalis Police Department. She was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

DUI ARREST MADE FOLLOWING CENTRALIA COLLISION

• Centralia police called to a collision about 9 p.m. last night arrested a  Rochester man for driving under the influence. Nobody was injured in the wreck at Johnson Road and West Reynolds Avenue, according to the Centralia Police Department. Daniel P. Christiensen, 56, was arrested, according to police.

Read about attempt to stall closure of Maple Lane fails …

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

KELA radio reports a bill to block the planned June 30 shut down of Maple Lane school in Grand Mound was voted down.

Read news item about legislation involving the state detention center for boys here

Read about bill proposes marijuana be sold at liquor stores …

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Seattle Times writes about legislation proposed which would legalize, regulate and tax marijuana in Washington state.

News reporter Joanna Nolasco reports the proposed bill would allow its sale to those 21 and older at state liquor stores.

Read about it in The Seattle Times here