Archive for January, 2011

Read the latest on case of August slaying on the Tenino bicycle trail ..

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Olympian reports this evening that the Tenino resident found with a dead woman wrapped in a sleeping bag in the passenger compartment of his truck in August has been found competent to stand trial.

Bernard K. Howell III

Bernard K. Howell III, 26, is charged in Thurston County Superior Court with first-degree murder. Investigators say the 60-year-old woman’s throat was cut. Vanda Skau Boone was a massage therapist who worked in Olympia and lived in Yelm.

The self-employed door-to-door meat salesman told deputies he had no part in her death. A judge ordered him evaluated by mental health specialists at Western State Hospital.

Read The Olympian’s story from this evening here

Read background on the case here

Robert Maddaus’s Thurston County murder trial postponed

Thursday, January 6th, 2011
2011.0105.maddaus.thurston_2

Robert John Maddaus Jr., left, sits with his lawyer Richard Woodrow in Thurston County Superior Court as attorneys and the judge discuss dismissing a pool of potential jurors.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – The murder trial for the man who just last week was convicted in Lewis County in connection with having pounds of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin when he captured along with Robbie Russell was postponed yesterday because of misconduct by two of the potential jurors.

Robert John Maddaus Jr., 41, is charged in the death of a man found handcuffed and shot to death on an Olympia street in November of 2009.

A pair of former state Department of Corrections employees were reportedly heard by other jurors from 20 feet away discussing what they think they know about Maddaus’s past.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Pomeroy said the words “derogatory” and “three strikes” were used and the conversation tainted the jury pool.

Attorneys were in the process this week of selecting a panel of jurors from a pool of some 80 individuals, a larger than usual number because the trial is expected to take three weeks.

Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau suggested they start over this coming Monday with a new set of potential jurors.

Judge Pomeroy agreed.

Before the jury pool was dismissed, but while they were out of the courtroom, Maddaus told the judge he didn’t want to continue with his lawyer Richard Woodrow.

“I’d like to fire my counsel, I can’t afford him,” Maddaus said.

The defendant and his attorney had returned from a break to discuss privately how to proceed given the news the case would last a week longer than expected.

Pomeroy said she wouldn’t allow it.

As Maddaus began conversing about his frustrations, jail guards replaced his handcuffs and moved him away from his lawyer into the jury box.

When Judge Pomeroy concluded yesterday’s session by telling the two lawyers to return on Monday, Woodrow said he would be present, but he wouldn’t be very happy about it.

“The last I heard, Mr. Maddaus didn’t want me as his attorney,” Woodrow said. “And I’m not gonna work for free.”

The judge and the two attorneys were set to return to court this morning to resolve the issue.

Maddaus is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Shaun A. Peterson as well as several related charges including four counts of witness tampering.

Bruneau said after the proceedings it’s not a third strike case.

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This news story was updated Wednesday Jan. 12, 2011 to correct the spelling of Shaun A. Peterson’s name.
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Read “Maddaus jury pool dismissed, trial halted” from The Olympian today Jan. 6, 2011

Read last week’s story from Lewis County Superior Court, “Man found with pounds of drugs in Chehalis pleads guilty to simple possession

Read about Rainier, Ore. police chief killed in confrontation …

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The (Longview) Daily News reports the chief of police in Rainier, Ore. was shot and killed yesterday as he responded to a call at a car stereo shop and a 21-year-old Kalama man was taken into custody.

The Oregonian reports more than a dozen shots were fired after officers from as many as five agencies including Oregon State Police converged on the scene across the Columbia River from Longview – including at least two shots which came through the windows of a nearby church.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

CAR TAKEN OVERNIGHT IN CENTRALIA

• A red 1993 Honda accord was reported stolen yesterday morning from the 700 block of West First Street in Centralia. Police were told the car was taken sometime overnight. It is described as having tinted windows and white “Pirelli” rims along with a dent in the left rear of the truck lid.

DRUGS

• A 42-year-old homeless woman from Centralia was arrested about 1:30 a.m. today after contact with an officer at West Fourth and E streets in Centralia for a warrant and possession of heroin. Teresa L. Karnes was booked into the the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A 24-year-old Centralia man was arrested by Chehalis police yesterday afternoon at Kresky Avenue and State street for possession of methamphetamine following a traffic stop. Justin D. Bussart’s license was suspended and he was found with a baggie with a small amount of a white substance suspected to be methamphetamine in his pocket, according to the Chehalis Police Department. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

TWO WANTED MEN DISCOVERED AT FLUCKINGER ROAD HOUSE

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning two men wanted on warrants were arrested Monday at a residence on the 100 block of Fluckinger Road in Toledo, one of them in possession of suspected methamphetamine. Deputies were looking for Jeremy J. Kelley, 25, of Toledo, who had warrant for failing to appear in cases involving burglary, misdemeanor assault and malicious mischief, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. A search connected with his arrest turned up a small baggie of white powder, Brown said. At the same home, Jason L. Clifton was found in a bedroom, according to Brown. Clifton was wanted for failing to appear in connection with a case of second-degree assault, Brown said. Both were booked into the Lewis County Jail. The residence is the same one which in November deputies learned from items posted on Facebook was hosting a huge party that might and did include individuals both over and under 21 years old. It’s also the same residence where a month earlier, a 23-year-old man suffered a broken pelvis after he was pushed off the deck breaking his pelvis, according to Brown.

COUNTERFEIT MONEY

• Chehalis police were called yesterday evening by an individual who said they received a counterfeit $100 bill from a local business and couldn’t get it replaced with a real one.

News brief: Trial begins for man accused of Mossyrock farm assault with garden tool

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A field worker from DeGoede Bulb Farm said a supervisor swung a sharpened garden hoe like a baseball bat at his head after he threatened to tell the boss how the man was treating employees.

Noe Lopez Cruz spoke through an interpreter in Lewis County Superior Court yesterday afternoon as a trial began on a second-degree assault charge.

Jaime Roberto Hernandez, 53, of Mossyrock, was arrested after the Aug. 18 incident at the Mossyrock-area farm which left Cruz with a laceration behind his left ear.

Deputy Prosecutor Kjell Warner questioned Cruz yesterday and then Deputy Jason Zimmerman who contacted Cruz at his Mossyrock residence that day.

Zimmerman said he then questioned Hernandez who told him it was only a verbal argument.

“He said Noe came at him, and when Noe came at him he had the hoe extended and Noe ran into it,” Zimmerman said.

Centralia attorney Don McConnell is representing Hernandez.

Lewis County Superior Court’s first jury trial of the new year was set to resume at 9:30 this morning.

Rochester home burns, four escape uninjured

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

No injuries were reported but four people were displaced when a fire broke out early this morning in Rochester.

Firefighters called about 3:25 a.m. to the home on the 13,000 block of Southwest 188th Avenue found a garage fully engulfed in flames, a travel trailer destroyed and fire heading into the attic of the house.

A jet of flames was shooting about 100 feet into the air from two large presumed home-heating propane tanks which were venting, West Thurston Regional Fire Authority Chief Robert Scott said this morning.

The occupants were already out of the home and at the neighbor’s when he arrived, Scott said.

West Thurston firefighters joined by crews from Oakville, Tenino and McLane/Black Lake had the blaze under control within 25 minutes, according to Scott.

Firefighters were on the scene until about 7:30 this morning, and investigators will likely be there a few more hours, Scott said.

Only the upper part of the single-story home was burned, but the house sustained substantial smoke damage, Scott said.

The chief said he believed one of the four people was living in the 25-foot travel trailer.

“It appears the fire may have started in the trailer, but that’s not for sure,” Scott said.

The fire department made a referral to the Red Cross for assistance to the residents, he said.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

ICE AND DITCHES

• A driver was reportedly uninjured when his fully loaded log truck rolled over yesterday on Lincoln Creek Road near Summers Road outside Centralia. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said the truck drifted and its tires caught in a ditch pulling the 1992 Kenworth onto its side. Firefighters called about 11:15 a.m. said the driver got himself out. The accident took out a a utility pole, according to the sheriff’s office. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Stacy Brown said 32-year-old Winlock man was cited for defective equipment, expired insurance and expired “tonnage”.

• Two young women were hospitalized yesterday after a single-vehicle wreck on the 300 block of Big Hanaford Road outside Centralia. Firefighters called at 12:15 p.m. said the airbags deployed and the occupants were taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Fire Capt. Ken Colombo said they were told by neighbors it was the third wreck along the bend in the road that morning. The 19-year-old driver and her 21-year-old passenger were transported because of back and neck pain, according to the sheriff’s office.

• A 34-year-old Centralia man escaped serious injury when his Jeep Cherokee left Centralia-Alpha Road and landed on its top in a ditch yesterday afternoon. Aid and deputies were called about 2 p.m. to the crash east of Coal Creek Road. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said he was traveling southbound about 50 mph when “he felt the sheet of ice on a sweeping curve”.

THEFT AND FRAUD

• Centralia police took a report Monday afternoon from the 1200 block of Alder Street in which someone made fraudulent charges on a food stamp card.

• Earlier Monday afternoon, police were called to the 1100 block of Virginia Drive in Centralia about a stolen wallet and somebody then using the victim’s food stamp card.

• And even earlier on Monday, Centralia police took a report about fraudulent activity on a credit card belonging to an individual reporting from the 1200 block of View Street.

DRUGS

• Chehalis police were called to the Rite Aid store on South Market Boulevard yesterday to a report a prescription was altered. A 23-year-old Winlock woman was arrested later when she returned, as she had altered the quantity of pills in her Percocet prescription, according to Chehalis police. Amanda D. Barnhart was booked for into the Lewis County Jail for forgery of a prescription, detective Sgt. Rick McNamara said.

• A 34-year-old Centralia man was found in possession of a small baggie of suspected methamphetamine after he was arrested on Thursday afternoon when he was picked by Chehalis police and a Department of Corrections officer on the 300 block of North Market Boulevard, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Matthew W. Rackley was wanted for a DOC violation, according to police.

STOLEN GUN GETS ALLEGED SHOPLIFTER JAILED

• A 20-year-old Centralia man allegedly trying to shoplift ear ache medicine at Shop n Kart on North National Avenue in Chehalis was jailed Friday night as he was found with a .22 caliber pistol stolen out of Tacoma, according to police. Guillermo Rodriguez was charged yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court with possession of a stolen firearm and third-degree theft. He was ordered held on $20,000 bail.