Lewis County Sirens.com

Judy Chafin looks over sentencing documents with her lawyer Sam Groberg in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Chehalis woman who operated halfway houses in Lewis County for newly released prisoners and homeless persons is entirely done with that mission, she says.

Judy Chafin was sentenced yesterday morning to 30 days of house arrest, for a prescription drug possession offense she says was simply an oversight on her part.

As she nears the end of numerous actions against her from various governmental authorities, she says she feels horrible.

“I didn’t expect to have a felony at age 62,” Chafin said after leaving the courtroom. “I live like a Christian, so this is like a slap, a big slap.”

Chafin began to get a lot of attention from law enforcement and then city and county officials beginning about two years ago when residents on a rural Chehalis road complained they didn’t want multiple felons, especially registered sex offenders, living together under one roof in their neighborhood.

Chafin owned what she called the House of the Rising Son in Chehalis and managed other similar homes in Centralia and out in the county on Nix and Clark roads. Except for the Chehalis house, a former church, she sub-leased the rentals to people she found who needed assistance getting back on their feet after they’d done their time in prison.

She described the home owners as individuals who got tired of renting to drug addicts, and made her number one house rule as no drugs or alcohol.

The city of Chehalis and Lewis County began filing zoning and health code complaints against her facilities. Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield vowed to do everything he could to shut her down, including getting new ordinances crafted and writing a letter when he was able to find out who it was in the prison system who was working closely with Chafin.

Last spring, as Chehalis police investigated her ex-husband in connection with suspected sales of hydrocodone, they ended up arresting him and Chafin during a traffic stop.

She was charged with possession of seven and half pills of morphine, with delivery of drugs and with a forgery count. By the time her trial began last week, prosecutors had dismissed all but the possession charge. A jury found her guilty during the one-day trial in Lewis County Superior Court.

Defense attorney Sam Groberg told a judge yesterday his client is the primary caregiver for her infant great-grandchild and has no criminal history.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Eric Eisenberg told Judge Lawler that because there were so many allegations swirling around, he wanted to ask for a month-long sentence in the jail, but since Chafin has health issues he recommended instead two months of so-called electronic home monitoring.

“I’m aware the state had a lot of allegations, but those things were not proved, not charged,” Lawler said. “There’s no reason to treat this case differently than any other.”

What the jury heard at trial, was the bottle of hydrocodone in Chafin’s purse was prescribed to her. The morphine pills found in her purse had been in there for some months, and belonged to a former housemate.

Chafin said she called a probation officer on the housemate for misusing his medicine, and after he was taken to jail, the pills were left out in a common area. She scooped them up because she had a grandchild in the house, she said. And they ended up in the zipper part of her purse.

“That taught me a lesson, to never hold anything for anyone,” she said. “It shouldn’t be illegal to do something normal in your own home for safety.”

The attentions she’s gotten from police is all about her now ex-husband, she says.

“The thing is, I don’t do illegal drugs, I don’t sell illegal drugs,” she said.

Lawler also ordered Chafin to pay $3,500 in fees, be subject to community custody for one year after serving her time and to get a drug and alcohol evaluation and abide by its recommendations.

“You’ve probably figured this out, but you’re under a lot of scrutiny from law enforcement,” Lawler told her. “If anything is going on, you need to stop, you need to distance yourself from some people.”

She continues to live at the Chehalis home she owns, with family only, she said.

The various other houses are no longer operating and she quit her involvement in that mission months ago, she said. She chose not to fight the various zoning actions. She found places for the occupants, and prays for them every day, she said.

Chafin says she still feels its much safer for the community for registered sex offenders to have a roof over their head, as opposed to being turned out to the streets where they are more difficult to keep track of. Her zeal came from a relative who was victimized, she said.

“I believe the state needs to provide for that,” she said.

Still pending, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries announced in September that following an investigation, Chafin was charged with wrongly collecting benefits since 2006 for an on-the-job injury from when she was a caregiver at Tiffin House in Centralia.

Although she submitted claims stating she could not work, L and I contends Chafin was working when she operated the House of the Rising Son and other homes for released prisoners and homeless persons.

She remains charged with 30 counts of forgery and one count of first-degree theft.
•••

For background, read:

• “Discord on Nix Road: Newest arrivals unwelcome” from Saturday March 3, 2012, here

• “The backstory: Intelligence gathering, possible fines and code enforcement tools “not normally used” from Sunday March 4, 2012, here

Sheldon J. Hardy, 40, of Chehalis, is charged with first-degree assault in connection with a Sunday incident with a knife on Southeast Dobson Court in Chehalis.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Both men stabbed in separate incidents in Chehalis over the weekend are listed in satisfactory condition at a Seattle hospital while their two alleged assailants remain held in the Lewis County Jail.

Michael Bylsma, 25, suffered a single stab wound to his chest on Saturday afternoon in the driveway of the home on Southeast 16th Street where he lives with his friend Kevin A.R. Dawkins.

Authorities say the two argued and fought while out to pizza at lunchtime and resumed the dispute as soon as they returned home.

The victim in Sunday’s late afternoon incident outside an apartment complex on Southeast Dobson Court, 19-year-old Andres F. Santiago, sustained a wound to his chest and a laceration across his lower lip, according to charging documents.

It happened during an alteration witnessed by several others, apparently over something said to Santiago’s 17-year-old pregnant girlfriend, charging documents indicate.

Sheldon J. Hardy, 40, who told police he’d told authorities he’d been drinking and done a few lines of methamphetamine, told police Santiago charged him, court documents state. Police described the two as neighbors.

Hardy was charged yesterday with first-degree assault and ordered held on $250,000 bail. Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey said he’d set it at $50,000 over the weekend, but after hearing more of the allegation’s details and learning Hardy’s criminal history, he would increase the amount.

Dawkins, 24, who appeared before the judge during the same late afternoon hearing, is held on $100,000 bail. He is charged with second-degree assault.

Second-degree assault carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; first-degree assault can mean lifetime incarceration.

Exactly why the two cases didn’t produce the same charge isn’t clear.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher one of his co-workers filed one of the cases and a second co-worker filed the other.

“Not all stabbings are equal,” Meagher said.

Recently hired Deputy Prosecutor Mark McLean mentioned to the judge Dawkins’ significant criminal history, noting two recent felonies and offenses such as burglary and theft.

In Hardy’s case, McLean listed seven past felony convictions such as drugs and forgery as well as two for third-degree assault going back as far as 1996.

In both cases, the weapon used was described by police as a kitchen-like knife with a blade of approximately four inches.

Both victims were treated at Providence Centralia Hospital.

Bylsma was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle on Saturday. Airlift was unavailable because of weather on Sunday so Santiago was transported there by ambulance.

Charging documents in Saturday’s incident don’t relay what Bylsma and Dawkins argued about, but cite a witness as saying the pair went into the residence on 16th Street for a short period and came back out yelling at each other.

David Graves, who had taken them to Sahara’s Pizza before the incident, told police he watched Bylsma walking backwards down the driveway with Dawkins walking towards him, and he saw Dawkins punch Bylsma in the chest and then drop a knife on the ground and leave the area, charging documents state in a two-page summary.

The five pages outlining why prosecutors believed they had probable cause for the charge in Sunday’s case don’t reveal a specific reason for the disagreement between Hardy and Santiago either.

One witness tells police Hardy came outside and said something to the 17-year-old girl that Santiago could hear and Santiago approached the two. Hardy was yelling at her as the two men came together and Hardy took up a fighting stance, the documents state.

The documents alleged Hardy took a swing and Santiago stopped fighting, and while his hands were down, Hardy hit him again in the face, both blows apparently with a knife in hand.

Another witness said he yelled at the suspect, who stopped what he was doing, charging documents state.

Fellow resident Michelle Gibson took Hardy back to his apartment and was yelling, “I told you guys what would happen,” charging documents state.

Gibson told police Hardy had exhibited behavior and violence issues in the past, once pulling a knife on her, according to the charging documents.

She said she thought his behavior on Sunday afternoon  was because he’d been evicted earlier that day, for similar issues, according to charging documents.

Both men in both cases will go before a judge on Thursday for their arraignments.
•••

For background, read “Breaking news: Young man hospitalized after stabbing in Chehalis” from Sunday March 16, 2014, here

Kevin A.R. Dawkins, 24, of Chehalis, is charged with second-degree assault in connection with a Saturday incident with a knife on Southeast 16th Street in Chehalis.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Winlock mother of a 4-year-old boy who was abused by her live-in boyfriend will avoid jail time herself if she follows through with parenting classes and abides by other court ordered restrictions.

Ryon T. Connery, 31, was arrested at the end of November after the boy was found with numerous bruises and injuries and detectives learned of punishments inflicted such getting sprayed with a hose while forced to do pushups for various infractions such as wetting his pants and stealing food in the home.

Connery pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree child assault and was sentenced last month to 16 months in prison.

A soon as he was convicted, prosecutors charged the 23-year-old mother, Heather L. McNurlin, as an accomplice, contending she was present when the abuse was inflicted, and some of it was even her idea. The little boy was taken out of the home McNurlin and Connery shared and placed with his grandmother.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Joely O’Rourke said she and defense attorney Don Blair reached an agreement with a lesser charge of attempted assault of a child in the third degree, or conspiracy to commit the offense.

“She pleaded guilty, she didn’t get any jail time, but she’s on very extensive probation for the next two years,” O’Rourke said this afternoon.

O’Rourke said she thinks it’s in the best interest for the boy that his mother continue with parenting classes. They were already ordered by a family court judge in a separate action, as part of McNurlin’s requirements to regain custody of the boy, she said.

“She was really not the principle concern in that case, it was Mr. Connery,” O’Rourke said.

When the child was brought to the hospital at the end of November, he had a broken finger he said occurred when he dropped a weight on it, a scraped nose he said was from falling on his face trying to get away from a spanking and he spoke of being dunked in a dirty outdoor pool, according to charging documents.

A doctor who reviewed the case opined the youngster was malnourished and was the victim of starvation as well as abuse, both mentally and physically, according to the documents.

The mother said she and Connery had been in a dating relationship about four months. The abuse occurred between last July and into November, according to court documents.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt agreed with the lawyers’ recommendation and sentenced McNurlin on Thursday to 364 days in jail, suspended for 24 months as long as she complies with court ordered requirements such as the classes.

She was also ordered to pay various fines and fees and is prohibited from having any contact with Connery.