Archive for June, 2011

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Friday, June 10th, 2011

AR15 RIFLE ACCIDENT INJURES CHEHALIS MAN

• A 27-year-old Chehalis man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle last night with wounds from a firearm accident that occurred on the 1100 block of state Route 508 east of Chehalis, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The man and his friend were practicing with Bushmaster AR15 rifle when tried to clear a misfired round and it exploded in his face, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. A neighbor drove the wounded man to Providence Centralia Hospital, and he was transferred to the Seattle hospital due to shrapnel in his eyes, Brown said. She described the victim as in stable condition. His name was not released.

“WHERE’S MY F-ING WEED”

• A 48-year-old man was arrested yesterday after allegedly barging in the trailer of a sleeping Glenoma resident and beating him with a hatchet-handle, or something similar, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning. The suspect apparently had a pound of marijuana go missing and was looking for it, according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies responded about 12:40 a.m. yesterday to the residence on the 8400 block of U.S. Highway 12 and found a 45-year-old man bleeding from his nose, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. They subsequently arrested Gerald S. Core, 48, of Randle, and booked him into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree burglary.

KNIFE THREATS

• Centralia police were called to the 200 block of East Van Buren Street about 6:30 p.m. yesterday about a juvenile male threatening his family with a knife during a dispute. The youth arrested and booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center for second-degree assault, according to the Centralia Police Department.

SECURITY GUARD ASSAULTED AT GREAT WOLF LODGE

• Thurston County sheriff’s deputies are hoping to find clues from surveillance video after a security officer was attacked in the parking lot of the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound around 3 o’clock this morning. Law enforcement and aid were called for what was initially believed to be a stabbing, but the officers injuries turned out to be minor and he wasn’t sure what what he was struck with, according to sheriff’s Lt. Greg Elwin. Deputies were told the the assailant didn’t say anything to the victim and fled after the brief encounter, according to Elwin. The victim was treated at the scene for superficial wounds to his torso. Elwin said. A police dog track was unsuccessful. Investigators are looking into the possibility it was related to a contact a few hours earlier in the same area involving a dispute between a male and a female, he said.

FIREARM STOLEN FROM CENTRALIA RESIDENCE

• A .38 caliber Bersa brand handgun was reported stolen from a home in Centralia yesterday. The theft occurred at the 1000 block of J Street, according to Centralia police.

THEFT

• Chehalis police were called yesterday about a burglary to a garage on the 600 block of Northwest Gertrude Street.

VEHICLE PROWL

• Police took a report of a car prowl late yesterday afternoon from the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia. The victim said somebody rifled through the vehicle while he or she was working, but nothing seemed to be missing, according to Centralia police.

DRUGS

• Police arrested a 22-year-old Centralia resident for unlawful possession of methadone last night. Ryan S. Riggin was booked into the Lewis County Jail after contact with an officer at the 1600 block of South Gold Street, according to the Centralia Police Department.

FOUND STOLEN PROPERTY

• Police in Lacey are trying to match up a large amount of property seized last month to victims of burglaries to homes and storage units. The items came from several search warrants served during the month of May, according to the Lacy Police Department. Anyone who has reported reported a burglary to law enforcement in Thurston County between October of last year and May 10 is encouraged to make a phone call today or Monday to learn if their valuables have been recovered. Victims can provide their case numbers and evidence staff will be on hand to cross reference stolen goods and arrange for viewing of property if necessary, according to Lacey police. The phone number is 360-459-4333.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

DRUNKEN STUDENT ARRESTED, BOOKED

• An intoxicated Onalaska Middle School student was so disruptive and used such profanity yesterday that deputies were called and the school locked down briefly, according to authorities. When a deputy arrived, the 15-year-old girl was standing at the door and yelling at the deputy, the staff and students, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The teenager was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center for minor in possession of alcohol and for disturbing the school, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. Principal Glen Dickason said the lockdown was mainly so the other students wouldn’t hear “what was some pretty foul language.”

THEFT

• A deputy was called to the 100 block of Middle Fork Road in Chehalis yesterday about the theft the day before of two tractors. Missing are a yellow 2001 Caterpillar loader and a 1995 Komatsu mini-excavator – yellow with purple and green paint, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The loss is estimated a $15,000.

• Police took a report about 5:30 a.m. today about a GPS unit, a Blackberry and other items stolen from a vehicle on the 800 block of F Street in Centralia.

• Police were called about 6:45 p.m. yesterday to the 100 block of Virginia Drive in Centralia about a video game missing from a vehicle.

• An individual reported the theft of a car battery from the back of his truck while he was in Centralia yesterday.

OVEREXPOSED

• A 30-year-old Centralia man was arrested yesterday after allegedly exposing himself to neighbors on the 1100 block of Long Road in Centralia. Nicholas K. Voyles was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Motive: Alleged shooter thought Centralia woman “snitched”

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

This news story was updated at 7:40 p.m. on Thursday June 9, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 24-year-old woman shot in Napavine told police Javier Jimenez Villalavazo was calling her and her family a snitch before firing several rounds at her as she got back inside a car outside an apartment complex.

Eloisa Cruz-Garcia was struck twice in her right leg and didn’t know she was injured until after driving away, according to court documents in the case.

2011.0606.javier.jimenez.villalavazo

Javier Jimenez Villalavazo

Villalavazo, 22, was apprehended in the Lacey area last night and booked into the Lewis County Jail.

The shooting apparently occurred early Monday morning; it was initially believed to have happened on Sunday night, according to authorities.

Lewis County sheriff’s detectives, assisted by Thurston County and police officers from Centralia, Lacey, Tumwater and Olympia, made the arrest around 7 p.m. yesterday, according to the sheriff’s office.

A tip led them to a house which they surrounded, according to a sheriff’s office news release. Villalavazo tried to run, but was quickly stopped by a police dog, according to the news release.

The suspect, who is also known as “The Joker”, is being held for first-degree assault with a firearm.

He was scheduled to appear before a Lewis County Superior Court judge this afternoon.

The incident came to the attention of law enforcement early Monday morning from the emergency room at Providence Centralia Hospital.

Centralia police detective Pat Beall contacted the victim there and was originally told the shooting happened in Centralia, but further investigation showed the scene was inside Napavine city limits, according to court documents.

Sheriff’s detectives have assisted in the investigation for Napavine, a two-officer agency.

Charging documents offer the following details:

The woman, Cruz-Garcia, got a ride to the Park Place Apartments on the 100 block of Haywire Road in Napavine from a man named Carlos Apantiipan-Castrejon.

Apantiipan-Castrejon told a sheriff’s deputy he didn’t know why they wanted to go there. Also in his white Ford Crown Victoria were Cruz-Garcia’s 2-year-old child, her brother Brian Cruz and his friend.

When they arrived, Villalavazo came up to the passenger side of the car and began talking to her; at first she got out of the car, she said.

Apantiipan-Castrejon told a deputy it was fairly dark, he couldn’t see the man, and he didn’t know what they talked about because they were speaking English.

Cruz-Garcia said Villalavazo – who she has known from high school and used to be her brother’s friend – was calling her and her family a snitch, she said.

“She said she opened the passenger door and returned to the vehicle, and this is when Javier fired several shots from a firearm at here,” the documents state.

The shooter then ran away to Haywire Road.

She didn’t realize she was hit until Apantiipan-Castrejon drove them away. They didn’t know what to do, so he took them back to her apartment in Centralia. She went to the hospital to be treated, and was released by morning.

One of the bullets penetrated her right calf, and the other entered her upper right thigh and passed through to her left thigh.

Sheriff’s detectives later learned a woman called Napavine police at 12:25 a.m. on Monday and reported hearing three gunshots at 105 Haywire Road, and a voice shouting, “Your dead kid” before hearing a vehicle speed off.

Napavine Police Department’s Officer-in-charge Silas Elwood said he learned of the shooting about 6 o’clock to 7 o’clock on Monday morning.

Napavine Officer Noel Shields was actually in the area and heard the shots, Elwood said today.

“He heard it coming from a different direction, which is pretty common,” Elwood said.

Shields was joined by sheriff’s deputies trying to find the source, but didn’t.

“Like I said, it was a pretty dynamic incident, nobody hung around, they just took off,” Elwood said.

Court documents go on to describe the detective’s examination of the apartment parking lot and Crown Victoria – which by Monday morning had returned and was parked in the same spot where it reportedly had been hours earlier.

Detectives observed three shell casings on the ground and two “impact points’ consistent with bullets on the front passenger door of the car as well as one on the front passenger fender.

Sheriff’s detective Bruce Kimsey stated the projectiles did not travel through the car’s door.

Kimsey stated they also found suspected blood on the front passenger seat and on the ground, along with white paint chips.

Nothing in the documents indicate what Villalavazo thought Cruz-Garcia or her family “snitched” about.

Villalavazo is held on $100,000 bail. He is set to go before Judge Nelson Hunt at 4:15 p.m.

Update: The judge increased bail to $150,000. Villalavazo was scheduled to make his plea next Thursday.

•••

Read related stories:

• “News brief: Law enforcement searching for Napavine shooting suspect” from Monday June 6, 2011 at 3:39 p.m., here

• “News brief: Four booked as detectives seek suspected Napavine shooter” from Wednesday June 8, 2011 at 7:28 p.m., here

News brief: Thurston jail staff successfully intervenes in suicide attempt

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Thurston County Jail inmate is on crisis watch after an apparent attempted suicide yesterday in which jail officers intervened, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.

The 45-year-old man was found unresponsive during a routine check about 3:15 p.m., lying on his cell floor with a sheet around his neck and tied to a stool; his face was discolored, according to sheriff’s Lt. Greg Elwin.

When staff loosened the sheet, the inmate became responsive to questions and directives, Elwin said in a news release.

He was treated and remains on crisis watch pending medical clearance, according to the news release.

The inmate’s name was not released. He is in custody for residential burglary and malicious mischief, according to Elwin.

Breaking news: Napavine shooting suspect jailed

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Javier Jimenez Villalavazo, the man wanted for allegedly shooting a 24-year-old woman outside a Napavine apartment, is in the Lewis County Jail tonight.

Villalavazo, 22, was booked about 9 p.m. for first-degree assault with a firearm, according to the jail roster.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said on Monday the unnamed woman was wounded when she was shot twice, they believed at about 10 p.m. on Sunday.

Sheriff’s detectives have been assisting the Napavine Police Department, a two-officer agency.

The suspect, who is also known as “The Joker”, has most recently been listed as living in Chehalis.

Few details and no suspected motive for the shooting have been released.

News brief: Four booked as detectives seek suspected Napavine shooter

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – As deputies searched yesterday for the man suspected of shooting and wounding a woman in Napavine, they arrested four people at a “flop house” in Centralia.

Javier Jimenez Villalavazo, 22, is believed to be the gun man who on Sunday night fired at a 24-year-old Centralia woman outside a Napavine apartment, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

On Tuesday, a sheriff’s detective and other officers went to a house on the 600 block of State Street in south Centralia looking for Villalavazo, who also reportedly goes by the name “The Joker”.

Instead, they found 32 grams of suspected heroin, 24 grams of suspected methamphetamine, 11-plus grams of marijuana, digital scales, baggies and other paraphernalia, according to charging documents in Lewis County Superior Court.

Two men and two women at the house were arrested and then charged today with possession of methamphetamine and possession of heroin, according to the filings in their cases.

Charged were the resident, Ian D. Angelo, 33; John L. McNeal, 26, who said he’d lived there about a month; Natalie E. Sanchez-Anderson, 19; and Tammy R. Viers, 39.

All were ordered held on $10,000 bail. McNeal and Sanchez-Anderson have already been released.

Read about Littlerock man gets prison for Capitol Forest murder …

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Olympian reports a second man was sentenced to prison today for last year’s kidnapping and slaying of 25-year-old Randen S. Robinson of Rochester.

News reporter Jeremy Pawloski writes Robinson was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head in the Capitol Forest on March 20, 2010.

Read about it here