Lewis County Sirens.com

Updated at 7:46 p.m.

POLICE: SHOPLIFT GOES PHYSICAL

• Centralia police were called about 4:15 p.m. yesterday to a grocery store on the 500 block of South Tower Avenue where they were told a 45-year-old man fought with loss prevention officers after stealing a raspberry beer. James C. Weatherford was arrested for second-degree robbery and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department. Lewis County prosecutors declined to file that charge.

COLLISIONS

• Police responded to the 1200 block of Kresky Avenue in Centralia about 5:10 p.m. yesterday where they found a vehicle had driven off the roadway into a field, and the driver left. Phillip A. Pinotti, 22, of Centralia, was subsequently arrested for driving under the influence and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• One of four possible patients was taken to the hospital after a two-vehicle collision on the 2100 block of North Pearl Street yesterday evening involving a car and a pickup truck. Police  called about 7:30 p.m. said one pulled out in front of the other. A girl was transported with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

FIFE POLICE SEARCH MORTON RESIDENCE FOR WANTED PERSONS

• Officers from the Fife Police Department yesterday were joined by local sheriff’s deputies in looking for a pair of wanted subjects suspected to be hiding at a home in the Morton area. Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Cmdr. Steve Aust said they were searching for a man and a woman from a shooting incident in the north Pierce County town back on Aug. 11. About a half dozen officers went to the residence on the 800 block of Davis Lake Road yesterday afternoon but did not find them, Aust said. Fife police have been looking for the pair following a contact with an officer about 1:05 a.m. a week ago Monday in which an officer responding to a call about a near robbery encountered a dark blue Ford Explorer driven by a female and engaged in a struggle with her but got trapped in the vehicle’s open door as she put it in reverse, reportedly dragging the officer briefly, according to the Fife Police Department. The officer fired into the vehicle, which fled south toward Tacoma, and at one point on Interstate 5, someone from the vehicle may have fired through the back window at a pursuing patrol car, according to police. Fife police reported the suspect vehicle was later located unoccupied in Spanaway; it had been struck by gunfire and appeared the occupants may have sustained injuries. Aust said he didn’t know why the couple would have been in Lewis County.

FROM THE COURTHOUSE

• A former Adna area resident extradited from Virginia where he was serving in the U.S. Navy was sentenced yesterday for molesting a young relative when they lived together following the December 2007 flood. The girl told a detective it began when he was 17 and she was 9 and occurred over a two-year period, according to charging documents. Edward J. Guenther, 23, pleaded guilty as charged in Lewis County Superior Court to one count of first-degree child molestation and one count of first-degree child rape. Judge James Lawler yesterday morning agreed with the recommendations of of both attorneys that Guenther be given what is called a Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative. “I’m satisfied this is appropriate, I think both Mr. Guenther and society will benefit from this,” Lawler said. “Given the evaluation, I find he is amenable to treatment.” Under the agreement, Guenther must spend one year in jail and successfully complete a five-year long psychosexual treatment program. If he fails, he has an 11-year prison sentence waiting for him, defense attorney David Arcuri said. He will be monitored by the state Department of Corrections during that time and for the rest of his life, and must register as a sex offender, Arcuri said. Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer told the judge the victim was not opposed to the deal. One of the requirements for a defendant is they must be willing to admit what they did, Arcuri said. “This is not a guy who hangs out in parks, snatches girls and throws them in the bushes,” Arcuri said. “Those guys can’t do SSOSAs.” Guenther was charged last December, and has been held in the Lewis County Jail since mid-January.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving under the influence, misdemeanor assault; responses for alarm, disputes, misdemeanor theft, suspicious circumstances … and more.

Updated at 4:21 p.m.

STOLEN FIREARM FOUND

• A 19-year-old Centralia resident was arrested yesterday at the 300 block of M Street in connection with a shotgun stolen from the 200 block of L Street. The gun was taken last Wednesday and reported missing Monday, according to the Centralia Police Department. Jonathan C. Siler was recognized by the victim, when surveillance images were viewed, according to police. The firearm was retrieved yesterday in Winlock, Officer Patty Finch said. Siler was booked into the Lewis County Jail for burglary and trafficking in stolen property, according to Finch.

MISSING TV RECOVERED

• Centralia police recovered a 60-inch plasma television yesterday for the Rent-A-Center which had been rented and then sold to someone else, according to the Centralia Police Department. The $1,560 item was found at the 1200 block of Centralia Avenue, according to police.

VEHICLE PROWL

• Chehalis police took a report yesterday from Southeast Winchester Hill Drive that someone had rummaged through a pickup truck in the previous few days. It didn’t appear anything was taken, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

FROM THE COURTHOUSE

• A plea deal was put together in which an Onalaska man admitted to no wrong doing, but pleaded guilty today to offenses which could result in a sentence of life in prison, with the potential to be released after about three and a half years in connection with allegations of sexual abuse of a teenage relative. Richard L. Crumbliss, 44, was arrested in April and has remained held in the Lewis County Jail. Lewis County prosecutors changed the charges to the more serious counts of second-degree assault with sexual motivation related to an incident reported during spring break of this year and second-degree child molestation related to the girl’s other recent disclosure that when she was 12 and and she traveled with him in his semi truck, he gave her strawberry vodka and engaged in sexual activity with her, according to Deputy Prosecutor Mark McClain. Crumbliss made his so-called Alford plea to Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler this morning. The former volunteer firefighter and part time substitute bus driver was represented by attorney David Arcuri. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 1, after an evaluation is conducted by the Department of Corrections so the state agency may offer its recommendation of how much time he should get.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, obstructing, resisting arrest, misdemeanor assault, violation of no contact order; responses for alarm, disputes, drunken teenager, misdemeanor theft, suspicious circumstances, failure to return rented home furnishings, collision on city street, jogger bit by golden lab; complaint of loud neighbor music … and more.

CHILD PORN COMPLAINT

• Chehalis police were called to the Holiday Inn Express on Northwest Liberty Place yesterday evening following the discovery a man was using the hotel’s business center to look at what was described by the reporting person as child pornography. Detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said the individual left the area and the incident is under investigation. It remains to be seen if material was downloaded and was illegal, according to Wilson, and nobody knows if it was a hotel guest or a trespasser.

BURGLARY CENTRALIA

• A deputy was called to a home on the 1800 block of Salzer Valley Road outside Centralia yesterday where a 55-year-old man reported someone broke the front door glass and stole about $1,100 worth of valuables, including binoculars and a coin collection as well as bank statements and checkbooks. It happened sometime between 7:30 p.m. on Sunday and 11 a.m. yesterday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

• Centralia police were called yesterday about 12:40 p.m. regarding a firearm stolen from a residence on the 200 block of L Street.

• Someone got into a shed at the 100 block of Alexander Street in Centralia and stole a bug zapper and a shop vac, according to a report made to police yesterday.

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning that a $500 pickup truck belonging to the county was stolen from near the orange gate at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds between 11 p.m. Sunday and 9 o’clock yesterday morning. The white Chevrolet S10 had a broken out back window, a county logo on its door and an exempt license plate reading 40954C, according to the sheriff’s office.

MAILBOX PILFERING

• Centralia police were called to the 1800 block of Van Wormer Street about 8 o’clock yesterday morning about the theft of checks from a mailbox.

STUMBLING DRUNK

• Chehalis police were called twice yesterday afternoon about a very drunk pedestrian, first when he fell onto his face on a sidewalk near Northwest Prindle Street and then less than an hour later because he was laying next to the railroad tracks. Both times he refused any help and this morning was out and about upright, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor assault, driving with suspended license, violation of no contact order; responses for alarms, disputes, small grass fires, misdemeanor theft, suspicious circumstances, violation of no contact order, failure to return rented home furnishings, collisions on city streets, including Twin Transit bus hitting parked vehicle … and more.