Archive for June, 2013

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News brief: Jury convicts Napavine bar theft suspect as charged

Monday, June 17th, 2013

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Thirty-seven-year-old Lonzo W. Lawson II was convicted of burglary for breaking in to Frosty’s bar, convicted of theft for stealing some $15,000 from inside the Napavine business and convicted again for trafficking in stolen property because he gave some of the cash to two of his buddies.

A jury took only a couple of hours today to come up with a verdict in the trial that began last week in Lewis County Superior Court.

Prosecutors told the jury Lawson pedaled a bicycle seven miles to burglarize the Napavine establishment on April 9 and spent the proceeds on partying.

He faces as much as eight years and three months in prison.

Lawson also was found guilty of a special allegation of committing the crime with a deadly weapon – he took a knife from bar’s kitchen to break through its office door. The extra finding probably added three to four years to the potential sentence, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke said.

Lawson, who has been described as a transient, was convicted today also of possession of heroin and methamphetamine. He was represented by Centralia attorney Don Blair.

His sentencing hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
•••

For background, read “Lawyers: Who broke into the safe at Frosty’s tavern?” from Wednesday June 12, 2013, here

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Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Monday, June 17th, 2013

Updated at 7:11 p.m.

ANOTHER CENTRALIA RESIDENT SLEEPS THROUGH HOME BURGLARY

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office was called about 1:45 p.m. yesterday to a home north of Centralia where a 53-year-old woman said someone broke in while she was sleeping and stole two handguns, a diamond ring, medication and other items. The guns missing from the 100 block of Wakefield Drive are a 22 caliber Ruger and 22 caliber Taurus, according to the sheriff’s office. The loss is estimated at $11,000. Details about exactly when and how the burglary occurred without the victim waking up were not readily available.

CHEHALIS’S NEW POLICE DOG AT WORK

• Chehalis police were called about 3:15 a.m. today when someone tried to steal a motorcycle out of a yard on the 400 block of Southwest Cascade Avenue. Police arrested one man who was found hiding nearby and second man who accidentally ran up onto responding officers, according to Chehalis Police Department. The new police dog tracked down possible evidence including a phone and methamphetamine, according to police. Booked into the Lewis County Jail for possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, burglary and theft was Tony Chafin, 27, of Chehalis, detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said. Also booked was Ernest A. Calderon, 42, of Chehalis, for possession of meth, burglary and theft, according to Wilson.  Chafin was charged this afternoon with possession of methamphetamine, theft of a motor vehicle and residential burglary. Calderon is likely to face his charges tomorrow.

ATTEMPTED BREAK-IN

• Police were called abut 6:15 a.m. today when employees arriving at Picasso Brothers on the 1000 block of South Gold Street discovered someone had cut phone and power lines unsuccessfully attempting to defeat a security system. Pry marks were found on the drive through window of the business, according to the Centralia Police Department. Nothing appears to have been stolen, police said.

THEFT IN RANDLE

• Someone stole a pressure washer, a chainsaw, a battery, a push mower and a trolling motor from a garage at the 600 block of Peters Road in Randle,  according to a report made to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office yesterday. It happened sometime between Thursday and Saturday, according to the sheriff’s office. The loss is listed at $700, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

RESIDENTIAL THEFT IN CHEHALIS

• Somebody broke out a window and burglarized a home on Southwest Ninth Street in Chehalis, according to a report made to police about 6:25 a.m. on Saturday. Taken were televisions, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

BREAK-IN IN PACKWOOD

• A deputy was called about 8:30 a.m. yesterday regarding a break-in to a home for sale on the 100 block of Alpine Drive in Packwood. The owner, a 68-year-old Arizona woman, said there was nothing worth taking, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

TOOLS TAKEN

• Centralia police took a report about 8 p.m. on Saturday about tools stolen from a carport on the 500 block of Madison Street.

• A chainsaw was reported stolen on Friday from the 500 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia.

MISSING FOOTWEAR

• Chehalis police took a report about 12:20 a.m. on Sunday from a male who said someone stole his shoes while he was napping on the grass at the Chehalis library.

CAR LOST AND FOUND

• A 1991 Honda Civic reported stolen around noon on Friday from the Wal-Mart parking lot in Chehalis was discovered about 1:40 a.m. today parked in the nearby Twin City Town Center, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

GROUP DETAINED AFTER NUMEROUS RETAIL THEFTS

• Four young people from the Portland area were arrested on Saturday night at the 1500 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue in Chehalis after allegedly shoplifting items from three stores in Chehalis as well as five businesses in Centralia. Booked into the Lewis County Jail for organized retail theft were two 18-year-old, Roshayla J. Campbell and Charleshia Dobson; two juveniles were booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center, detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said.

VEHICLE PROWL

• Police were called about 9 p.m. yesterday regarding a car prowl on Caveness Drive in Centralia. Stolen was a cell phone while its owner was taking a walk, according to the Centralia Police Department.

NEIGHBORHOOD DISPUTE

• A neighbor was hit in the chin by a beer bottle someone tossed from a large party on the 300 block of Southwest Third Street in Chehalis at about 2 a.m. on Saturday. When police arrived, people had scattered and nobody was arrested, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

UNWANTED 911 CALLS

• After approximately eight phone calls to 911 by a Packwood man who was making no sense and told to stop calling, a deputy went to the 400 block of Cannon Road at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday and arrested 64-year-old Albert A. Nolette, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Nolette was booked in to the Lewis County Jail for telephone harassment, according to the sheriff’s office.

DOMESTIC DISPUTES

• Police were called about 11:30 p.m. on Saturday to the 1000 block of South Tower Avenue in Centralia after a 27-year-old Centralia man allegedly knocked over a lamp and three pictures inside his girlfriend’s home. He took off before police arrived but was found hiding not far away. Chehalis police said their new dog “made contact” with the suspect, who was then taken to the hospital to be checked out for a dog bite. Derrick L. Whitcomb was then booked into the Lewis County Jail for third-degree malicious mischief,  according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A 20-year-old Centralia woman was arrested about 11:30 p.m. on Friday after police were called to the 500 block of Hunt Street in Centralia to a complaint she assaulted her boyfriend and threw his iPhone in to the toilet during an argument. Melissa S. Boe was booked into the Lewis County Jail for misdemeanor assault and malicious mischief, according to the Centralia Police Department,

VANDALISM

• Centralia police took reports about 5:40 p.m. on Saturday regarding someone who sprayed paint on multiple vehicles as they walked past them on the 900 block of South Tower Avenue.

DRUGS

• Chehalis police were called to Green Hill School over the weekend after staff discovered a plastic baggie of suspected marijuana in an inmate’s trash bin. The substance was taken into evidence and the 17-year-old faces potential charges of possessing drugs, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• A 23-year-old Chehalis woman was arrested for possession of methamphetamine about 5 a.m. on Saturday in Centralia. Officers contacted Jennie B. Young at the 500 block of South Rock Street and then booked her into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Nineteen-year-old Xochilt O. Martinez Sanchez, of Centralia, was arrested for possession of marijuana about 3 a.m. on Saturday after contact with police at East Sixth and B streets in Centralia. He was cited and then released, according to the Centralia Police Department,

WRECKS

• A 25-year-old Chehalis area woman who said she left an Onalaska area party following a fight with her fiancee was arrested for allegedly stealing a nearby pickup truck she found with it keys in it and then wrecking the truck early Sunday morning. A deputy called about 7:30 a.m. to the 2300 block of state Route 508. Shanna M. Bice, reportedly told a deputy she left on foot, got cold and needed to get back to Chehalis to check on her child. According to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, Bice said she knocked on a door and getting no answer, took the 2000 Ford F350, but the windows quickly fogged out and she ended up rolling the pickup. Bice was taken to the hospital and then booked into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree theft, according to the sheriff’s office. She was charged this afternoon instead with theft of a motor vehicle and released from jail pending trial on a $5,000 unsecured bond, co-signed by her fiancee.

• A 79-year-old Longview resident ended up with just a minor cut to his hand when his truck collided with a  tree on the 400 block of Toledo-Vader Road west of Toledo on Saturday. A deputy called at 1:30 p.m. to the scene was told the man looked over his left shoulder and then his truck veered to the left into the ditch and ran into the tree, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The 1998 Chevrolet S10 was totaled, according to the sheriff’s office. The driver was cited for “wheels off the roadway,” Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

• A 70-year-old Vader man escaped injury in a rollover wreck on Saturday on the 1300 block of Winlock-Vader Road south of Winlock. A deputy called about 11 a.m. was told by the driver his rear tire blew out, he overcorrected and then hit the ditch, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. His 1992 Ford R-10 pickup was described as totaled. He was cited for defective equipment, according to the sheriff’s office.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, violation of a protection order, driving with a suspended license; more responses for misdemeanor assaults, misdemeanor thefts, parking lot fender bender, family disturbances, runaway children, alarms, suspected animal neglect, suicide threat, asking for information about how to deal with someone posting things on Facebook about a family member; complaints about barking neighbor dogs, loud parties … and more.

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Elderly pilot survives freak accident with biplane at Chehalis airport

Saturday, June 15th, 2013
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Tom Potter of Pe Ell checks out the 1941 biplane that nearly killed its pilot earlier today.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – An 85-year-old man was run over by a plane today at the Chehalis-Centralia Airport.

Firefighters called just after 3 p.m. said the small rear wheel ran over his chest after he was knocked to the ground when the plane started up and circled around on the ground.

Getting run over was bad, but it could have been so much worse.

The open cockpit biplane built in 1941 by Boeing has a shiny silver propeller that stretches roughly 10 feet from end to end, nearly reaching the ground.

“I kept telling him to stay down,” said Merrill Stulken, an Alaska resident who was at the airport fueling up his plane.

The plane shouldn’t have started up, but it did, according to Stulken.

“If he’d have put his head up, he’d be gone,” Stulken’s brother-in-law Tom Potter of Pe Ell said.

The plane circled over the man four times and then stopped, according to Stulken.

“God intervened,” Stulken said, calling the outcome of the accident a miracle. “I honestly thought I was gonna to see a man be killed,” he said.

It’s a mystery what happened, according to Stulken.

Stulken was getting ready to take a flight over Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier and his farm in Boistfort, he said.

The pilot had a dead battery and asked him for help, he said. They were contemplating getting it going by cranking the propeller by hand.

The plane was parked, and shut off, he said. The fuel was off and before the pilot got in the cockpit, the two men rotated the propeller about one-third of a turn to check it out, Stulken said.

That’s when it started prematurely, he said.

The pilot, from Lakewood, was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with a cut to the back of his head.

Chehalis Fire Department Capt. Pat Gilligan said his injuries must not have been too bad, because they got a phone call from the hospital within hours telling them he was headed in a taxi back to the airport to fly home.

The fire department didn’t release the injured man’s name, but the plane is registered to John Dimmer in Tacoma. The hospital said a John Dimmer was treated and has been released.

Stulken and his brother-in-law were back at the airport later this evening, surprised to hear the pilot planned to fly tonight. The plane was still parked however and the injured man wasn’t there.

Stulken estimated the tail of the aircraft weighed 500 to 1,000 pounds.

“He’s got true grit, he’s a tough old bugger,” Stulken said.

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Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Friday, June 14th, 2013
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Elderberry Street garage fire. / Courtesy photo by West Thurston Regional Fire Authority

GARAGE BURNS

• The cause of a garage fire yesterday afternoon in Grand Mound is under investigation. Crews called just after 4 p.m. to the 19000 block of Elderberry Street Southwest found the detached building fully involved in flames with a partial roof collapse, according to West Thurston Regional Fire Authority. The blaze was brought under control within about 15 minutes, Chief Robert Scott said. Nobody was injured, according to Scott.

THEFT

• Chehalis police were called yesterday regarding three local businesses receiving checks that may be from an account that has been compromised. The case is under investigation.

• Chehalis police took a report of a theft from a business on North National Avenue yesterday. The case is under investigation.

DRUGS

• A 15-year-old girl was arrested for having a marijuana bud in her purse while at a dance at Centralia Middle School last night. A faculty member noticed she left and went to the park area off the 900 block of Johnson Road, followed her and asked her to return, and then asked if she had anything in her purse, according to police. She pulled out a baggie of suspected marijuana, according to Officer John Panco.

VEHICLE PROWL

• Someone stole a Stihl chainsaw from a work truck at the 1000 block of Eckerson Road in centralia, according to a report made to police yesterday.

VANDALISM

• Police were called to a bank on the 600 block of South Tower Avenue in Centralia yesterday  afternoon after damage was discovered on its outside ATM machine. It was scratched as though someone tried to pull the front of it open, according to the Centralia Police Department.

ACCIDENTS

• Chehalis police were called about 6:50 p.m. yesterday to the 100 block of North Market Boulevard where a van had taken out a fence and ended up wedged between a building and an embankment. The 16-year-old driver said it was difficult to get in reverse and he accidentally went forward instead, according to police.

• A 69-year-old Centralia woman was arrested for driving under the influence after she allegedly hit the viaduct near Kresky Avenue and then a light pole as she pulled into a Centralia parking lot yesterday evening. Dorothy J. Mills was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department. Mills also had a suspended license and an outstanding warrant, according to police.

• A 30-year-old Centralia man who was riding a bicycle and hit by a truck yesterday in Chehalis has been treated and released from the hospital. Police and aid called about noon yesterday to the 1500 block of North National Avenue found Thomas S. Simpson had been traveling north on the sidewalk when a Ford F450 pulled out from a parking lot. Simpson was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to the Washington State Patrol. The truck was not damaged and its driver, Robert A. Steele, 51, from Centralia, was unhurt, according to the state patrol. The cause is under investigation and charges are pending, according to the investigating trooper.

OTHER

• Chehalis police responded just before 7 p.m. yesterday to a call in which a young woman on Northeast Jefferson Avenue heard what she thought was a gunshot and then a female screaming. Officers didn’t find the source of the gunshot noise but did locate a woman who said she was screaming because she was so excited her daughter got a job, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving with a suspended license, shoplifting; responses for alarms, a request to ask teenagers to stop scaring school children when the get let out of school, a request to check on a woman who is hanging around and talking to herself … and more.

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Police: Centralian used ex-girlfriend’s cell phone to snap explicit photos with underage girl

Thursday, June 13th, 2013

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 23-year-old Centralia resident is being held on $500,000 bail following his arrest for allegedly taking pictures with a cell phone of himself having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

The incident came to light when his ex-girlfriend contacted authorities, saying he returned her cell phone to her with the explicit images on it.

Jonathan M. Margart went before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis yesterday afternoon charged with two felonies.

Defense attorney Bob Schroeter said he didn’t argue for a lower bail amount, leaving that for the attorney who would subsequently be appointed to represent Margart.

He said his temporary client was a hard working guy, employed at both Ayala Brothers Furniture and Carls Jr. restaurant.

According to the allegations outlined in the charging documents, Margart befriended a local middle school girl on Facebook, they talked on the phone a time or two and once met up at Fort Borst Park in Centralia.

The girl told a Centralia police detective they met on a recent Saturday and went to McDonalds, to the Outlet Mall and then Margart got a room at Motel 6, according to charging documents.

He left and returned with a fifth of Bacardi rum and his friends visited him periodically throughout the evening, the documents state.

The teenager told the detective she was intoxicated but recalled him holding his cell phone while they were engaged in sex, although she thought it was in the “flashlight mode,” charging documents state.

The girl said she allowed him to take one picture of her naked, but would not have agreed to photos during sex, according to charging documents.

She said she told Margart she was 14; when interviewed, he told the detective she said she was 18, according to charging documents.

Margart told the detective the girl was drunk and it was the girl who suggested he film her, according to the documents.

Margart was was jailed last week by his community corrections officer for violating the conditions of his parole by being in the company of a minor.

He was charged yesterday with sexual exploitation of a minor as well as third-degree rape of a child.

The exploitation is punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison. It’s related to causing a person under 18 to engage in sexually explicit conduct knowing the act will be photographed or part of a live performance.

The rape charge carries a maximum penalty of five years, and is based only upon the age difference between the two parties; a victim who is age 14 or 15 and a perpetrator who is at least 48 months older.

Margart’s criminal history includes convictions when he was 19 years old for third-degree child molestation and second-degree child molestation, according to court documents.

His chance to make his plea will come at his arraignment, scheduled for next Thursday.

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New Centralia arson not linked to series of fires in May

Thursday, June 13th, 2013
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Small fires set inside the empty Symons warehouse didn’t harm the building.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – Authorities don’t believe last night’s fire set inside a vacant warehouse in a Centralia neighborhood is connected to a string of arsons last month, but they still want to find out who lit it.

Firefighters called about 7:30 p.m. to a report of smoke coming from the large brick-sided building found a fire small enough they put it out with a portable extinguisher.

It was in the center of the structure, fueled by books and other items assembled from the facility, Riverside Fire Authority Assistant Chief Rick Mack said.

There was actually more than one fire set, but all were on the concrete portion of the floor and none caused any structural damage, he said.

Mack said it didn’t seem as though someone was trying to destroy the building. It could have been devastating if that happened, he said.

“But still, that’s not okay,” he said.

Neighbors call it the cannery, but Mack described it as a cold storage warehouse.

It takes up a city block in between F and G streets and Fourth and Fifth streets.

One of the reasons authorities aren’t linking last night’s incident to the five fires in May is none of those buildings were entered, Mack said.

In a three-hour span during the early morning hours of May 3, fire crews were called to two churches, a coffee stand and Centerville, the western store at the north end of the Centralia Outlets. After daylight, they learned of a failed attempt at a third church.

Longtime area resident Hazel Ragan recalls the now vacant warehouse once was owned by Ocean Spray and last belonged to Symons Frozen Foods. Ryan Rayburn who lives across the street said it a busy operation until about two years ago.

“Squatters probably, that what I figured it was,” Rayburn said. “Squatters in there using the vents for a chimney.”

Police are working with Mack, who is the city’s fire investigator. They don’t have any suspects yet, he said this afternoon.

“We did recover some evidence from the fire,” Mack said. “We’ll be using that as we move forward.”

Mack is asking anyone who saw anyone in the area before the fire to please contact him or the Centralia Police Department.

••

For background, read: “Early May north Centralia church fire could also be arson, officials now say” from Monday May 20, 2013, here

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Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Thursday, June 13th, 2013

ARSON IN CENTRALIA

• Centralia police are helping to investigate a small fire that was apparently intentionally set inside an empty warehouse last night. Firefighters were called at 7:30 p.m. to the building on the 1000 block of F Street. The incident is being investigated as an arson, according to the Centralia Police Department.

LICENSE PLATE LEFT AT COLLISION SCENE

• A 51-year-old Centralia woman was arrested around noon yesterday for driving under the influence after she allegedly slammed into the front end of a parked vehicle and drove away with its bumper attached to her Suburban. Her license plate fell off and was left at the scene, according to the Centralia Police Department. Officer John Panco said it happened near South Washington Avenue and Alder Street and the impact shoved the struck vehicle into a second vehicle. Janie S. Weibling was subsequently located on the 1000 block of West Pear Street and arrested for DUI as well as hit and run, Panco said. She was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.

POLICE DRAW WEAPONS BASED ON BAD COMPUTER INFO

• Centralia police stopped a suspected stolen vehicle about 1:30 p.m. yesterday at the 1200 block of Mellen Street and ordered its occupants out at gun point. It turned out the truck belonged to the 28-year-old man who was driving it, but he had a warrant so he was taken to jail, according to police. Officer John Panco said sometimes when officers “run” a license plate, they get back information that is a “near” hit, and in this case the details also suggested a possible warrant. That was the reason for making what he called a felony stop; that is ordering the occupants out instead of approaching a car. Panco didn’t know what prompted the officer to initially check the plate on the vehicle. He noted a male passenger present had nothing to do with the arrest.

BICYCLE STOP REVEALS DRUGS

• A 30-year-old man riding a bicycle with no headlight through a Centralia neighborhood was stopped last night and subsequently booked into jail. An officer contacting Jason C. Davis about 10:25 p.m. at West Magnolia and North Rock streets discovered there was a warrant for Davis’s arrest and  during a search, turned up suspected heroin and methamphetamine, according to the Centralia Police Department.

DOG AND POULTRY DISPUTE LEADS TO FIGHT

• Deputies were called to the 1000 block of D Street in Vader about 9:15 p.m. yesterday after a 43-year-old man got punched in the mouth and head butted when he brought his neighbor’s dog over to him and told him to keep it on his own property, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said the animal had gotten loose and attacked another neighbor’s chickens. Ryan K. Bonds, 30, allegedly struck the 43-year-old, who hit him back. Bonds was arrested for misdemeanor assault and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office. He is also to be cited for “prohibited activities of animals,” according to Brown.

STOLEN VEHICLE

• Chehalis police were called about 6:30 a.m. today regarding the theft of a moped from Southwest McFadden Avenue.

MISSING MEDS AND MONEY

• A deputy took a report yesterday from the 300 block of Brown Road East outside of Chehalis regarding missing cash and prescription medications. Stolen from the 45-year-old woman’s bedroom during a birthday party on Saturday was $2,700 and 75 Vicodin pills,  according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies are pursuing leads on two “persons of interest,” according to the sheriff’s office.

VANDALISM

• Centralia police were called just before 5 p.m. yesterday to the 1700 block of Harrison Avenue regarding a building which was re-tagged with graffiti after previous tagging was painted over. Also yesterday, officers took reports of graffiti in Centralia on the side of the Sixth Street viaduct and on the back of a shed on the 1100 block of North Pearl Street, according to the Centralia Police Department.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants; responses for alarm, minor collision, violations of protection orders, disorderly person, request to check on a seemingly disoriented pedestrian, request to wake up subjects sleeping outside in front of a business … and more.

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