Archive for March, 2013

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Wednesday, March 20th, 2013

MAN BLAMED, ARRESTED FOR $10,000 MISSING CASH

• The 51-year-old man arrested Monday evening at his home on the 200 block of Young Road in Mossyrock for first-degree theft was picked up because he was suspected in an incident in which $10,000 cash went missing from his 89-year-old employer, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The theft victim, a Morton resident, had contacted the sheriff’s office on Aug. 25 and said he had $38,000 with him to purchase a new truck that day. He’d stashed the cash in what he thought was a safe place, in a tool bag behind the seat of his vehicle, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. He told a deputy he suspected Daniel S. Beaty, who he’d hired to do grounds maintenance, Brown said. A subsequent investigation showed Beaty used hundred dollar bills to purchase $200 in lottery tickets and cigarettes at a Morton service station, as well as paid his electric bill with hundred dollar bills, according to Brown. An examination of his bank account suggested Beaty’s spending habits had changed noticeably, Brown said this morning. Deputies couldn’t find Beaty until Monday, when they booked him into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office. He was also booked for first-degree trafficking in stolen property because he spent some of the cash on lottery tickets, Brown said.

POLICE: MAN TRIED TO SELL STOLEN GOODS

• A 21-year-old Centralia man was arrested yesterday afternoon in an ongoing case for alleged shoplifting at Wal-Mart in Chehalis and attempting to sell the merchandise to a video game retailer across the street. Aaron M. Perez was booked into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree trafficking in stolen property and charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with two counts of the same offense. A judge was told he works for and lives at housing associated with Reliable Enterprises, and earns less than $1,000 per month. Perez qualified for a court-appointed attorney and bail was set with an unsecured $5,000 signature bond.

JAIL ASSAULT BY PREGNANT WOMAN ALLEGED

•  A judge was told today a 26-year-old pregnant inmate at the Lewis County Jail reportedly assaulted a number of corrections officers, even breaking someone’s finger. Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke asked for Felicia D. Lane to be held on $100,000 bail, even though he was not yet charging her with assault, but had charged her with possession of methamphetamine from her arrest yesterday morning at a Centralia motel. O’Rourke said he only learned of the jail incident late this afternoon. Lane, who is said to be seven and a half months pregnant, was brought to the courtroom in a wheelchair. Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler set her bail at $25,000.

FROZEN FOOD BANDIT

• Chehalis police were called just before 1 p.m. yesterday when someone came home for lunch and found a strange man rummaging through a freezer in the garage at a residence on Southeast Magnolia Drive. The intruder, who was a white male about 30 years old, took off running, according to the Chehalis Police Department. The resident said he had previously noticed a tool bag missing, according to police.

BREAK-IN AT AUCTION BUSINESS

• Centralia police were called about 8:45 p.m. yesterday to a burglary at an auction yard on the 1100 block of North Pearl Street. Some equipment and keys were missing, and a list is still being compiled of what was taken, according to the Centralia Police Department.

RECOVERED STOLEN VEHICLE

• A 2011 Hyundai Sonata stolen in December from a Shelton resident was reported found yesterday parked in a field behind a gas station at U.S. Highway 12 and Interstate 5, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

CAR PROWL

• Centralia police took a report about 2:30 p.m. yesterday regarding a car prowl at the 100 block of South Washington Avenue in which a purse was stolen from a locked vehicle.

VANDALISM

• Chehalis police were called about 7 a.m. today when an employee at the Holiday Inn  Express discovered the window to her car shattered at the 700 block of Northwest Liberty Place.

• Police were called about 2 p.m. yesterday about a grave stone vandalized at the 1800 block of Van Wormer Street in Centralia. The complaint was turned over to the cemetery authorities, according to the Centralia Police Department.

WALKING IN THE ROADWAY LANDS WOMAN IN JAIL, AGAIN

• A 49-year-old Centralia woman was arrested for disorderly conduct around 11:20 a.m. yesterday when police discovered she was walking in the middle of the street at the 300 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia. Barbara A. Heppe was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

WRECK

• A collision this afternoon on a state highway about 10 miles west of Hoquiam sent a 47-year-old Centralia resident to the hospital. Troopers called about 1:30 p.m. learned that Anthony M. Fruchella was traveling southbound on state Route 109 in a Ford Escort when a northbound pickup truck turned left in front of him. The Escort was described as totaled; the Chevrolet Silverado described as having “reportable” damage. The pickup driver, a 75-year-old Hoquiam resident, was uninjured, according to the Washington State Patrol.

AND MORE …

• And more, such as arrests for DUI, warrants, violation of no contact order; responses for possibly suicidal subject, fender bender, hit and run, misdemeanor thefts, threatening note left on a building, reported assault between two youths at Green Hill School; and complaints of cars idling or parking in no parking zones, as well as a trash can stolen one day and returned the following day … and more.

Tags:,
Posted in Sharyn's sirens roundup | Comments Closed

News brief: Flames consume mobile home near Toledo

Wednesday, March 20th, 2013
2013.0319.toledofire.nathan.summers_2.jpg

Toledo-area mobile home is fully engulfed in flames when crews arrive. / Courtesy photo by Nathan Summers

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The cause of a blaze last night outside Toledo that destroyed an unoccupied residence is under investigation.

Lewis County Fire District 2 was called at 8:48 p.m. to the 1500 block of state Route 505, about a half mile east of town.

Arriving firefighters found flames coming from three sides of the older double-wide mobile home, according to Capt. Tracy Summers.

Nobody was hurt, Summers said.

Crews were assisted by fire departments from Winlock, Vader-Ryderwood and Toutle. It was extinguished in about 45 minutes, Summers said.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office responded as well, because a person was seen walking west on state Route 505 shortly after the fire was reported.

Chief Criminal Deputy Stacy Brown said an eviction notice was posted on the home on Jan. 15.

Tags:,
Posted in News briefs | Comments Closed

Breaking news: Centralia jewelry shop burglary interrupted with gunshot

Wednesday, March 20th, 2013
2013.0320jewleryshopburg_2

Courtesy photo by Centralia Police Department

Updated at 3:31 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

One shot was fired when a masked man was discovered inside Salewsky’s Jewelry shop in downtown Centralia this morning.

Police are looking for two cars that fled the scene heading north.

Officers called about 7 a.m. don’t know if the intruder was injured, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Police say a relative of the owner was asleep upstairs and confronted a subject who was attempting to steal jewelry from a showcase, ordering the intruder to stop and firing one round.

The intruder escaped by crawling through an opening cut into the wall from an empty neighboring business, according to police.

Two males were seen running from the area, both wearing ski-type masks, according to police.

Salewsky’s is on the 200 block of North Tower Avenue.

It’s not known yet if anything was actually taken from the business, according to Sgt. Stacy Denham. Detectives are at the scene this morning, he said. Inventory is being taken, but it seems as though the burglars had just begun, and dropped some or much of the loot, according to police.

It occurred about 6:30 a.m. The man who lives upstairs and awoke to noises called the owner first, who responded to the shop and then police were notified, according to Denham.

The two males ran to a parking lot east of the store about a block away and got into two cars, each of which had a female driver waiting, according to police.

A passerby smoking a cigarette as he waited for a ride thought it was odd because both were wearing ski masks, according to police.

The cars are described as: possibly a red newer model Mercedes CLK with no front license plate but a rear plate in which some of the figures were something like AK77, according to police.

The other vehicle was possibly a silver newer Toyota Scion FRS, two-door coupe – or a Subaru BRZ – with no license plates visible. Both cars had tinted windows, according to the witness.

Police are asking anyone who sees the vehicles to call 911 and report their location.

Denham said the burglars got into Salewsky’s by somehow entering a vacant adjacent business to the north and breaking through the wall that separates the two businesses. A hole cut in the sheetrock  with unknown tools was just large enough for a small person to crawl through, he said.

The intruder who was confronted was wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt and a dark stocking mask, police said. Police don’t know if the bullet hit him.

The relative who fired the gun was not injured, according to police.

One of the subjects whose face was exposed to the passerby was described by police as a white male who appeared to be 20 to 30 years old.

2013.0320.2009mercedesbenz_c-class_sedan_c350-sport_prq_evox_10_500.trim_2

Centralia police say the getaway cars looked like these.

•

2013.0320.scionorsubaruBRZ-FRSfront QTR.trim_2

Tags:,
Posted in Top story of the day | 7 Comments »

High school senior class fund in Chehalis under scrutiny

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Chehalis police are investigating the possible theft of money from an account meant to cover expenses for the W.F. West High School class of 2013’s all-night party after commencement.

Tonya Burk, a Chehalis woman whose son is a senior, said some of the other parents recently asked her to audit the group’s records.

Burk said parents were surprised a few months ago to learn there was less than $8,000 saved up, when they thought it would be closer to $16,000.

A big red flag was raised when Security State Bank closed the account and contacted one of the parents in January, she said. Police were contacted shortly after that, she said.

Chehalis Police Department detective Sgt. Gary Wilson declined to offer much detail: “It’s an ongoing investigation,” Wilson said this morning.

Chehalis School District Superintendent Ed Rothlin said the school is not involved in the finances; it’s a privately held account that comes from a tradition of parents who collectively begin fundraising during their children’s freshman year to pay for graduation-related activities.

Burk said the efforts for her son’s class began when he was in eighth grade. Some parents paid “dues” each year, and they also held car washes and spaghetti feeds, conducted flower sales, put on haunted houses and did fireworks sales, she said.

She admitted it was somewhat of a loose-knit group, until recently. Since January, parents have pulled together and raised $7,000, she said.

“We don’t have enough totally, but we’re coming close, which is phenomenal,” Burk said.

The money this year is expected to pay for a mother-father barbecue, the baccalaureate gathering and the senior trip.

There are almost 270 seniors this year, according to Burk.

After graduation on June 8, the plan is to put them on charter busses and take them to a place called Bullwinkle’s near Portland, a venue with indoor laser tag, bowling, music and an arcade, she said.

Then they’ll travel to a trampoline park and return in the morning to a breakfast at the school, according to Burk.

“This is supposed to be a fun, safe trip where they can act like kids one last time,” she said.

Burk said the account wasn’t set up with a requirement of having two signers for withdrawals, which she called a mistake.

A one-time local volunteer of the year will be trying to work with school officials to find ways to pass along guidelines to the parents of future graduating classes, in hopes of preventing reoccurrences, she said.

Tags:,
Posted in Top story of the day | 15 Comments »

News brief: Wayward cremated remains discovered at Centralia recycler reunited with family

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A nephew of Emmett Robert Nesteby, whose cremated remains were found at a Centralia recycling business, picked up his three family members’ remains yesterday but it’s still a mystery how they ended up where they did.

The ashes of three individuals were discovered at Hand ‘n Hand recycling last October and turned over to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.

They were tucked inside the hollow space of what looked like it was a pedestal base for a sun dial or bird bath.

Coroner Warren McLeod said his staff tried to track down relatives, using funeral home labels attached to the three plastic bags. On Friday, McLeod asked the news media to publicize the names.

TV news reporters found the nephew in Walla Walla before the weekend began.

McLeod said the pedestal turned out to be a product distributed by funeral homes especially made to hold cremated remains. It’s something one might place in a garden.

The nephew traveled to Chehalis yesterday and was extremely grateful for those who returned the remains, McLeod said.

“He wasn’t sure which relative may have had them,” McLeod said.

Nesteby, 76 when he died 13 years ago, is the father of Wayne Nesteby, who was 43, when he died in 1997, according to McLeod. Marjorie Boyer, age 77 when she died in 2004, is the mother, he said.

The senior Nesteby was a decorated WWII veteran, and a memorial with full military honors is on the horizon, according to McLeod.

The coroner hypothesized the pedestal was inadvertently discarded by someone, at some point who probably didn’t know what it held.

The deceased were cremated in Oregon and Arizona, according to the labels.

The coroner’s office had learned of a daughter, Kathleen Colley, who more than a dozen years ago had an Oregon address and phone number. That’s where they hit the dead end.

McLeod said he has now learned Colley lived in Packwood but is dead also. She and her husband lost their property there last year to foreclosure, he said.

It still doesn’t answer the question of how the three ended up at a Centralia recycler though.

“The main thing is, we got them back to their family,” he said.

•••

For background, read “News brief: Partial “urn” with cremated remains turns up at local recycler” from Friday March 15, 2013 at 9:54 a.m., here

Tags:,
Posted in News briefs | 1 Comment »

News brief: Sunbird parking lot accidental shooting brings criminal charge for Centralia man

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 40-year-old Centralia man who accidentally sent a bullet through his hand and into his wife’s leg while handling a pistol in the Sunbird Shopping Center parking lot in late February is scheduled to be arraigned next month on a charge of reckless endangerment.

Mark D. Solomon was not arrested, but was summonsed to Chehalis Municipal Court with a letter.

Chehalis Police Department detective Sgt. Gary Wilson at the time said he wanted to let the couple “get fixed up” before reviewing any possible violations of the law.

Officers called the afternoon of Feb. 27 said Solomon had just purchased a new holster and was putting his gun inside it while standing next to his truck. Both were hospitalized; the 35-year-old wife was sent to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for surgery

Wilson said he didn’t see any intent to do harm, but recklessness that could have seriously injured or even killed others that day, whether Solomon’s wife or other individuals in a public parking lot. Wilson issued a criminal citation on March 4.

Reckless endangerment is a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail and / or a fine of $10,250.

Just two days after the Chehalis incident, a Vader man handling his 40 caliber handgun at home fired a round through his hand, sending pieces of debris flying that struck his 12-year-old son who was nearby.

None of the injuries were life threatening, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. No charges are being filed from that situation as there was no evidence of a crime, according to the sheriff’s office.

Solomon is scheduled to appear before a judge on April 3, when he can enter his plea.
•••

For background, read “News brief: Two injured with accidental gunshot at Chehalis store” from Wednesday February 27, 2013, here

Tags:,
Posted in News briefs | 8 Comments »

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

ATTEMPTED THEFT

• Someone cut the lock on the back door of a business on the 1100 block of West Main Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police about 3:20 a.m. today. The building was checked and nothing appeared to be missing, according to the Centralia Police Department.

THEFT

• Three rolls of barbed wire and 40 steel fence posts were discovered missing yesterday from property on the 100 block of Clinton Road outside Chehalis. The items were taken sometime during the previous eight days, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The loss is $00.

THEFT ARREST

• A 51-year-old Mossyrock man was arrested last night for alleged theft and trafficking in stolen property, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Daniel S. Beaty was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office. Further details were not readily available.

STOLEN HANDGUN

• A deputy was called just before 9 a.m. yesterday about a car prowl in which a 22 caliber “Sterling Arms” pistol was stolen from an unlocked vehicle. Also missing at the 100 block of Harold Drive south of Chehalis from the SUV belonging to a 35-year-old man and 38-year-old woman were a checkbook, CDs, sunglasses, a chainsaw and other valuables, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A side window was broken as well, according to the sheriff’s office.

MISSING MEDS

• Prescription medication was reported stolen from a vehicle at the 1600 block of Kresky Avenue in Centralia yesterday.

VANDALISM

• Centralia police were called yesterday about 5:30 p.m. to the 400 block of South Silver Street where tires were slashed on a vehicle.

DRUGS

• Centralia police were called just before 6 a.m. to the Pepper Mill motel on the 1200 block of Alder Street to a complaint about a woman hanging out in the restroom. When officers contacted her, Felicia D. Lane had personal belongings spread about and among them were syringes that, when swabbed, field tested positive for methamphetamine, according to police. Lane was booked into the Lewis County Jail for drug possession, according to the Centralia Police Department.

AND MORE …

• And more, such as arrests for misdemeanor assault, warrant; responses for fender benders, lost or stolen wallets, side mirror ripped from a vehicle, child butt dialing 911, a guy jailed after visiting the sheriff’s office and a discovery he had failed to connect with his probation officer; and requests for assistance with disorderly customers, a teen that ran away (for 45 minutes), sounds as though someone turning a door knob to a back door during the night … and more.

Posted in Sharyn's sirens roundup | 2 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »