Archive for December, 2014

Breaking news: Ex-husband jailed for arson, in Centralia house fire

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014

Updated at 7:15 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A rural Chehalis resident was arrested today, suspected of setting a middle-of-the-night fire at his ex-wife’s house.

A man and woman escaped uninjured from the June 1 blaze that pretty much destroyed the home on the 900 block of B Street in Centralia.

Fire investigators learned an accelerant was used and determined there was animosity between the occupants, and her ex-husband James Johnson, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Detective Sgt. Pat Fitzgerald said a crime lab analysis of an item believed to have been left at the scene by Johnson revealed a DNA profile that matched him.

“Based on the DNA evidence and other corroborating circumstances, CPD detectives determined there was probable cause to believe Johnson was responsible for setting the fire,” Fitzgerald stated in a news release.

He declined to say what the item was.

When the fire was discovered, the garage was already fully involved, and it traveled through a carport and to the house, Fitzgerald said. Firefighters at the time said the man got up to use the restroom, smelled smoke and as he opened the back door, flames kind of licked at him.

Today at about 12:45 p.m., detectives found Johnson driving near his home south of Chehalis, and arrested him for two counts of first-degree arson. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail.
•••

For background, read “Centralia house fire displaces two” from Sunday June 1, 2014, here

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014

Updated at 7:45 p.m.

HOSPITAL ASSAULT

• A 35-year-old Chehalis woman was arrested yesterday evening after she allegedly punched a nurse at Providence Centralia Hospital. An officer called just after 6 p.m. arrested Judith M. Fenning for third-degree assault and booked her into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department. A department spokesperson said he thought Fenning was a patient, but wasn’t sure of the details that led to her upset.

BREAK-IN DOOR OF HOME

• Video surveillance images led to an arrest yesterday after someone damaged a door at a home on the 700 block of Salzer Valley Road in Centralia. A deputy called to the residence after the victim arrived home found footprints in the snow and saw security images of a red sedan, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. An investigation led to the boyfriend of the car’s owner, who was located working on the car on Nix Lane, according to the sheriff’s office. The deputy recognized Jefferey A. Petrich as the person in the video, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. Petrich was arrested for malicious mischief and residential burglary and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to Brown. Nothing was stolen but the damage amounted to about $400, Brown said.

BROKEN WINDOW AT HOTEL

• A deputy was called to the Packwood Inn about 11:30 p.m. last night where the manager said she heard glass breaking and discovered someone had busted out the front door window. The repairs at the business on the 13000 block of U.S. Highway 12 will cost about $900, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

DRIVING MISHAP

• Nobody was hurt when a 101-year-old driver ran into a building yesterday on the 2500 block of Northeast Kresky Avenue in Chehalis. Detective Sgt. Gary WIlson said he understood the damage at Dels Farm Supply was not too severe.

VANDALISM

• Centralia police took a report about 9:30 a.m. yesterday regarding someone throwing a rock through a back window of a business on the 500 block of South Tower Avenue during the night.

BARN FIRE OAKVILLE

• Five fire departments battled a barn fire in Oakville last night and managed to save structures just  few feet away on either side. Grays Harbor County Fire District 1 responded about 11 p.m. to the blaze on the 1500 block of South Bank Road found the barn fully engulfed in flames, according to Firefighter Shawn Burdett. The nearest fire hydrant was a 12 mile round trip which required them to request mutual aid from others, including Riverside Fire Authority, according to Burdett. A county crew assisted by laying sand on the roads which began to ice up, Burdett said. No cattle were injured. The 50-foot by 90-foot barn was a total loss.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, disputes, shoplifting, hit and run, counterfeit bill … and more.

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The 1500 block of South Bank Road. / Courtesy photo by Grays Harbor County Fire District 1

Mary’s Corner Deli burns

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014
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Crews from five departments converge on Mary’s Corner south of Chehalis. / Courtesy photo byTiffany Dolin

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A deli and pizza business south of Chehalis sustained heavy fire and smoke damage last night, but nobody was injured.

Flames were reported by a woman in the building to 911 about 7:40 p.m. and she confirmed everyone evacuated the business on U.S. Highway 12 at Jackson Highway, according to Lewis County Fire District 5.

“As far as I know, it wasn’t open,” Firefighter Maria Kennedy said. “I don’t know if there were other people with her or not.”

Responding crews could see a column of smoke when they turned the corner at Koontz Road, a mile away, Kennedy said. When they arrived, flames were rising from the roof of Mary’s Corner Deli she said.

Kennedy said they focused on the back part of the building from the exterior at first, trying to keep the fire from extending into the coffee shop portion in the front.

Firefighters from Toledo, Winlock, Salkum and rural Chehalis assisted, she said.

There’s no fire hydrants in the area so they shuttled water in tenders, she said.

Firefighters finished up about midnight, but continued a fire watch through the night to make sure nothing rekindled, according to Kennedy.

A fire investigator came to the scene and is investigating the cause.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014

HARASSMENT

• A 23-year-old homeless man was arrested overnight for allegedly threatening to kill two workers at the shelter on the 400 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia. Officers called just before 1 a.m. booked Jacob M. Goble into the Lewis County Jail for one count of harassment, according to the Centralia Police Department. Just one count because only one of the two men felt threatened, according to Officer Patty Finch.

STOLEN CAR

• Deputies are looking for a 39-year-old Ethel resident after the discovery of a 2001 Honda CRV which was missing many parts yesterday at the 1200 block of U.S. Highway 12 in Ethel. The sheriff’s office was called yesterday by the woman who owns the property who said she’d given permission to the subject to use the property although not to store vehicles on, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. She said it appeared someone was chopping up a car there and deputies investigated, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. The suspect could not be located and the case is being referred to prosecutors for a charge of first-degree possession of stolen property, according to Brown.

VEHICLE PROWL

• Chehalis police were called about 7:25 p.m. yesterday about a vehicle prowl at the 1500 block of North National Avenue where the victim’s truck had been in impound. Missing were various personal items including clothing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

VANDALISM

• Centralia police took a report about 9 a.m. yesterday at the 1400 block of Oxford Avenue of a vehicle egged and a window broken. Within the hour were reports of windows broken from someone throwing rocks at the 1100 block of West First Street and the 700 block of Harrison Avenue, according to the Centralia Police Department.

COLLISIONS

• Centralia police say only a minor injury was sustained when a vehicle struck a utility pole at Reynolds Avenue and Lum Road at approximately 5:30 p.m. yesterday.

• A motorist was uninjured when he hit a spot of ice, spun around and struck the center barrier on Interstate 5 in Centralia yesterday morning. Firefighters responding about 7:30 a.m. to the northbound lanes near Harrison Avenue found the Chevrolet Blazer on its side and some of the barrier pushed into the southbound lanes, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor assault, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license, failure to transfer vehicle title; responses for disputes, misdemeanor theft, suspicious person, loud neighbor party … and more.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Monday, December 1st, 2014

BURGLARY CHEHALIS

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning that someone stole two large sheets of stainless steel being stored in the parking lot area of a Chehalis business, valued at about $3,600. A deputy called to Mohawk Industries on the 200 block of Downie Road on Wednesday learned the items vanished sometime during the previous four days, according to the sheriff’s office. One piece was circular and 76 inches in diameter and other was 80 inches by 100 inches, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning that someone broke into an office building at the 1500 block of Bishop Road in Chehalis and attempted to break into a safe. It happened sometime between last Tuesday and the following day, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. Damage to the safe and a window is estimated at $750.

PHONE CALL ISSUES

• Chehalis police were contacted on Friday regarding a suspected telephone scam involving someone purporting to be from the IRS. It was the typical threat the woman would be arrested if she didn’t pay up, detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said. The IRS doesn’t operate that way, Wilson said.

• Chehalis police took a report from the Lewis County Assessor’s Office that an individual on the phone who was upset suggested someone needed to get a gun and shoot the employees there. They just wanted police to be aware of it, detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said of the report from last Wednesday morning.

SHERIFF’S OFFICE: CHAINSAW THEFT SOLVED

• A 47-year-old Mineral man who learned he was facing possible charges in connection with a Winlock burglary broke out of the Nisqually Jail because he didn’t want to be brought back to Lewis County, the sheriff’s office reported this morning. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said a week ago on Sunday, a deputy went to interview the suspect in jail about the early November theft of two chainsaws and a winch from a metal building on the 400 block of state Route 505. A few hours later, deputies got a call from Thurston County dispatchers who said Tim C. Saterdal had escaped, and was last seen scaling a fence and running off into the woods, Brown said. He was subsequently located, with severe lacerations and other injuries, and told authorities he’d left because he didn’t want to come back to Lewis County, she said. The case involving Saterdal and the stolen equipment from Winlock is being referred to prosecutors for possible charges of second-degree theft and second-degree burglary. Brown said the reason he was arrested on Nov. 10 and locked up in the Nisqually Public Safety Correctional Facility, was a police officer in Roy was responding to a fire call, and Saterdal thinking he was getting pulled over drove recklessly to get away.

COLLISIONS

• A 30-year-old Toledo man was arrested on Friday night for reporting his Jeep Grand Cherokee was stolen, after deputies concluded he had been the one driving it when it wrecked earlier on the 300 block of Leonard Road in Onalaska. Sean D. Leonard was booked into the Lewis County Jail for making a false statement to a public servant, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The vehicle sustained major damage but Leonard didn’t seem to have any injuries, according to the sheriff’s office.

• A young woman was hospitalized with back pain after the car in which she was a passenger left Interstate 5 south of K-Mart in Chehalis, crossed over Northwest Louisiana Avenue and crashed through the fence surrounding the Chehalis-Centralia Airport on Thursday afternoon, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, shoplifting, driving with suspended license; responses for alarms, disputes, harassment, suspicious circumstances, protection order violation, counterfeit $20 bills, parking lot fender benders, wrecks on county roads … and more.

News brief: Centralia resident arrested after stabbing in Lacey

Monday, December 1st, 2014

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Lacey resident trying to break up a fight between two individuals at his home during a party was stabbed, and a Centralia man is in custody.

Police responding about 12:40 a.m. yesterday to the residence contacted the suspect as he was leaving in a vehicle, according to the Lacey Police Department.

Twenty-year-old Stuart A. Acosta of Centralia was arrested for second-degree assault, detective Sgt. Terence Brimmer said.

The incident is still under investigation, Brimmer said, but it seemed as though a group of people showed up the homeowner was unfamiliar with and two of them got into a fight. One of the two was Acosta, he said.

The homeowner, also in his early 20s, stepped in between them and was stabbed in his lower abdomen, Brimmer said.

He said he wasn’t sure how seriously the victim was injured.

“As far as his medical status, I don’t know,” Brimmer said. “He was taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital.”

Acosta was booked into the Thurston County Jail, he said.

Sheriff’s Office: Randle man attacked by teen with taser

Monday, December 1st, 2014

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Randle teenager is locked up after a dispute with his neighbor last night in which he reportedly went to the door with a stun gun and zapped the neighbor in the face when he answered.

Deputies called to the 100 block of Morris Road just before 7 p.m. were told the two had been arguing earlier and the 17-year-old threatened the 50-year-old man with the stun gun, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The man chased the boy away with an axe, according to the sheriff’s office.

Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said it wasn’t yet clear to her what the disagreement was about.

Brown said she understood the 17-year-old later went to the neighbor’s door and when the 50-year-old opened the door, he was shocked in the face. The boy pushed the man into the residence, continuing to shock him and began to stab him with what was described as a blunt metallic object.

The two fought and the older man was able to gain control of the situation, Brown said. The 17-year-old was later located and booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center, she said.

The injuries are not severe, according to Brown. The victim is missing a tooth and sustained several scrapes from the metallic object, she said.

The teen had a bloody nose and a cut on his forehead, she said.