Archive for March, 2016

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Thursday, March 10th, 2016
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MULTIPLE FIREARMS STOLEN FROM HOME

• Sometime between 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. yesterday someone burglarized a residence on the 700 block of Bunker Creek Road west of Chehalis and stole nine rifles and shotguns as well as binoculars, a laptop computer and cash, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The loss is estimated at $7,640, according to the sheriff’s office. The case is under investigation, according to the sheriff’s office.

SHED ENTERED

• Centralia police were called at 8:30 p.m. yesterday to the 600 block of South Pearl Street where a shed had been broken into. It is unknown if anything is missing at this time, police reported this morning.

AUTO THEFT

• A blue 1999 Honda Civic was reported stolen just before 9 a.m. yesterday from the 500 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia. It has a license plate reading AME 4034, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Centralia police were called about 7:45 a.m. yesterday to the 900 block of B Street about a vehicle which was stolen. The victim spotted the car half a block away and was able to provide a suspect description, according to the Centralia Police Department. The suspect fled on foot, but was picked up by a second suspect so car was recovered, according to police.

VEHICLE PROWL

• Someone broke the window of a car parked at the 1400 block of Johnson Road in Centralia and stole the stereo, according to a report made to police about 8 a.m. yesterday.

• Chehalis police were called just before 8 a.m. yesterday to a car prowl on the 300 block of Northwest Chehalis Avenue. Sometime during the night someone entered the unlocked vehicle, rummaged around and stole a stereo and a wallet with credit cards, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• Another prowl was reported on the 300 block of Northwest Chehalis Avenue yesterday, from an unlocked vehicle. The back seat was removed to gain access to the trunk and a knife set was missing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

STUDENT, TEACHER, TUSSLE

• An 11-year-old boy was arrested at Winlock Middle-High School yesterday because he allegedly struck a teacher in the leg after he had run outside and was stopped by teachers and escorted back inside. The student had been separated from his class during lunch for being disruptive and at one point took off running, through the principal’s office and out a side door, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies called to the 200 block of North Military Road took the boy into custody for fourth-degree assault and booked him in to the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center, according to the sheriff’s office.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor assault, protection order violation, driving under the influence; responses for alarm, dispute, vandalism, disorderly person, misdemeanor theft, collision on city street … and more, among 125 calls for local law enforcement and / or fire-emergency medical services in the 24-hour period ending about 6:10 a.m. today.

News brief: Elderly motorist injured in SR 7 wreck

Thursday, March 10th, 2016

Updated at 11:30 a.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

An 82-year-old driver whose car collided head-on with a Kenworth septic truck yesterday afternoon near Morton was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Troopers called about 2:50 p.m. to the scene found the Honda Accord totaled.

It happened on state Route 7, three miles north of Morton, according to the Washington State Patrol.

The state patrol reports Janet A. Morgan, 82, from Eatonville, was headed northbound when her car crossed the center line. She was listed in serious condition this morning.

The driver of the truck, Matthew P. Calvert, 27, from Onalaska, reportedly was unhurt.

Both had been wearing their seat belts, according to the state patrol.

Earlier in the day also in East Lewis County, a Morton resident died and his passenger was flown to Harborview after a single-vehicle wreck on state Route 508. Lloyd L. Wakeman, 35, from Centralia, remains hospitalized, but his condition this morning was not available.

News brief: One hurt, one dead after Cinebar crash

Wednesday, March 9th, 2016

Updated at 6:06 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

One person is dead and another seriously injured following a single-vehicle crash on state Route 508 near Cinebar.

Firefighters called just after 10 o’clock this morning found a pickup truck in the ditch with significant front end damage, according to Lewis County Fire District 3 Chief Doug Fosburg.

“The driver was the fatality, the passenger was airlifted to Harborview,” Fosburg said.

Fosburg said it was about two miles east of Justus Road. The state Department of Transportation reported the collision was at milepost 20.9 near Studhalter Road.

The Washington State Patrol is investigating. The eastbound lane was blocked until almost 1:30 p.m.

The state patrol this afternoon reports that Daniel D. Steig, 73, of Morton, was headed eastbound when his Dodge Ram pickup drifted off the shoulder into the ditch and struck the embankment.

Steig was deceased at the scene. His passenger Lloyd L. Wakeman, 35, from Centralia, was injured.

Wakeman had been wearing a seatbelt, but Steig was not, according to the state patrol.

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Wednesday, March 9th, 2016
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Updated at 5:40 p.m.

BURGLARY CHEHALIS

• Someone broke into two sheds belonging to the Lewis County Historical Museum over the weekend and removed items as yet unknown, according to the Chehalis Police Department. An officer called yesterday to take the report from the 500 block of Front Street is waiting for a list of missing property, according to police.

• Chehalis police were called about 5:15 p.m. yesterday when a burglary was discovered at the 300 block of Southwest Ninth Street. A resident returned home to find the front door unlocked and is missing an iPad, clothing, credit cards and a jewelry box, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

(ALMOST) UP IN SMOKE

• Firefighters were relieved and probably so were the owners of a business they were called to yesterday evening. The crew was dispatched about 5:40 p.m. to the building at the 300 block of Northwest State Street where employees said they had been smelling smoke for about an hour before finding its source, according to the Chehalis Fire Department. They went upstairs and discovered a towel smoldering, a cigarette had dropped onto it, Fire Investigator Derrick Paul said. They put water on it and put it outside, he said. “The important thing is, these guys had no smoke detectors,” Paul said. “There’s a multi-million dollar business that could have burned.” Paul said the Green Vault, a marijuana processor, may have had detectors elsewhere in the building, but there was none in the break room where they smoke. The only damage was to the carpet, he said.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving under the influence; responses for alarm, dispute, shoplifting, hit and run, suspicious person, collision on city street, dog pooping on neighboring apartment complex property … and more, among 159 calls for local law enforcement and / or fire-emergency medical services in the 24-hour period ending about 6:40 a.m. today.

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Tuesday, March 8th, 2016
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•••

Updated at 12:17 p.m.

DROWSY DRIVER SLEEPS DURING SOBRIETY TEST

• A 42-year-old motorist was arrested yesterday after he was found unconscious and laying in the driver’s seat of his vehicle, stopped in the middle of the road south of Chehalis. A deputy responding to Highway 603 near Brown Road East yesterday evening observed a needle on the passenger seat, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. He was walked to an ambulance for a medical evaluation and subsequently fell asleep standing up during a field sobriety test, according to the sheriff’s office. Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said John L. Lininger, who was wanted on a warrant, initially identified himself as his twin brother. They suspect he was under the influence of heroin, but won’t know for sure until they get toxicology tests results, according to Brown. Lininger was booked into the Lewis County Jail for identity theft and forgery and the case referred for a charge of driving under the influence.

BURGLARY CHEHALIS

• Chehalis police were called just after 9 p.m. yesterday by a resident who returned home to the 700 block of Southwest William Street and found the front door unlocked, the inside a mess and the television missing. A weed pipe that was left behind was taken into evidence, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

CAR PROWL

• A pocket knife was reported stolen from inside a vehicle about 6:15 p.m. yesterday at the 800 block of E Street in Centralia, according to the Centralia Police Department.

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT

• A man in his his 20s was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle overnight after an accident at a plywood mill in the Chehalis Industrial Park. Firefighters and medics called about 3 a.m. to Maurin Road found the patient conscious and responsive, according to Lewis County Fire District 6. Fire Chief Tim Kinder said he understood that the man had fallen from a catwalk onto a piece of machinery that flips plywood, and it flipped him. He was able to call for help, Kinder said. He had pelvic pain and was taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons, Kinder said.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, shoplifting, misdemeanor assault; responses for alarm, dispute, civil issue, suspicious person, collision on city street … and more, among 153 calls for local law enforcement and / or fire-emergency medical services in the 24-hour period ending about 7 a.m. today.

Suspect from 2008 Subway robbery initiated reopening his case

Monday, March 7th, 2016

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Six years after being locked up for life, former Centralia resident Thomas L. Pleasant wrote a letter to a judge in Lewis County asking for help.

He didn’t want help getting out, he just wanted a warrant quashed.

Pleasant said he robbed a church and its pastor and then two women, all in Cowlitz County. He took a plea on three armed robberies and second-degree assault and accepted the sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, he wrote.

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Thomas L. Pleasant

“I have no appeals or any action of ever being released, and I am okay with this,” Pleasant wrote.

He explained that inmates in his position are allowed limited privileges and those with outstanding warrants must deal with them before some jobs and some education are made available to them.

He mentioned he owes some $10,000 in fines, that he’s sorry to his victims and that he has maybe 20 more years left to live.

“Drugs completely ruined my life,” Pleasant wrote.

“It’s a short amount of time to pay back what I can,” he stated. “I am humbly asking the honorable courts to quash my warrant so I may seek help in doing what I can to get right.”

The arrest warrant was issued in September 2008 from Lewis County, after he was apprehended for his Cowlitz County spree.

The charges: first-degree robbery and first-degree rape for the July 16, 2008 hold up at the Subway sandwich shop in Chehalis, in which he confessed to tying up the female worker with an electrical cord and putting her in a walk-in cooler. He denied sexually assaulting her.

Lewis County filed the charges, but never pursued them.

It appears from Pleasant’s court file his letter from August 2014 went unanswered. He sent a second letter this past September, making the same request.

He warned that his life would be in danger if he has to face a charge of rape, as in, a serious “beat down” or stabbing, especially from young inmates trying to gain a reputation, he wrote.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead responded in December, by getting a judge to order Pleasant be transported from Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen to the Lewis County Jail.

Halstead said the case was revived because prosecutors are required to bring people back if they ask to have a warrant quashed.

Pleasant appeared before a judge finally a week and a half ago.

“We didn’t quash it,” Halstead said. “We’re going forward with the case.”

Pleasant pleaded not guilty last week in Lewis County Superior Court to first-degree robbery and first-degree rape. A trial date was set, but a review hearing was also scheduled for this Thursday.

The now-50-year-old is represented by Centralia attorney Don Blair.

“Mr. Blair was hoping we could resolve it right away,” Halstead said, acknowledging “resolve” means some sort of plea deal.
•••

For background, read “Chehalis case from 2008 sandwich shop robbery, rape revived” from Friday February 26, 2016, here

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Monday, March 7th, 2016
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•••

Updated at 1:17 p.m.

SMOKY APARTMENT

• A 36-year-old Centralia man was detained by police after he reportedly tried to light a pill on fire using his stovetop and then locked himself in his room yesterday at the 200 block of West Reynolds Avenue. A roommate who smelled smoke in the apartment had extinguished the tablet in the sink but the room had filled with smoke, according to the Centralia Police Department. Firefighters responded to a fire alarm and requested officers to help get the man out of his room about 11:30 a.m.  Jonathan R. Young was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital for a mental health evaluation and subsequently booked into jail for a municipal court warrant, according to police.

DOMESTIC ASSAULT

• A 24-year-old Chehalis man was arrested for second-degree domestic assault yesterday after police were called about 8:45 a.m. to the 200 block of Southwest Second Street and told he had assaulted a female with a pair of scissors. Her injury didn’t require medical treatment, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Lupe G. Mendez was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police. Prosecutors declined to file the felony charge.

BACKYARD PROWLER

• Centralia police were called just before 11 a.m. yesterday after a resident at the 800 block of South Gold Street confronted an intruder inside the fenced backyard who had picked up a ladder and was beginning to walk away with it. The subject dropped the ladder and ran off but officers located their suspect on the 1100 block of Kresky Avenue, according to the Centralia Police Department. Ahmed M. Peace, 22, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for theft, according to police.

TOOLS TAKEN

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning that someone burglarized a shop building at the 100 block of Bethany Lane in Winlock and stole a Lincoln welder and an Echo chainsaw. The break-in occurred sometime between Feb. 26 and 28, according to the sheriff’s office. The loss is about $1,000, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said.

MISSING MEDS

• Chehalis police were called on Friday about theft of medication from the 300 block of Southeast Park Hill Drive. Hydrocodone had gone missing sometime during the previous two weeks, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

PORCH PILFERAGE

• Chehalis police were called on Saturday morning about the suspected theft of a package that was believed to have been delivered to the 200 block of Lewis Street.

AUTO THEFT

• A 1992 Honda Accord reported stolen about 2:30 p.m. on Saturday from the 600 block of Southwest William Avenue turned up the following day in Thurston County, according to the Chehalis Police Department. It was no longer drivable, according to police.

CAR PROWL

• An unlocked vehicle was prowled while parked at Stan Hedwall Park on Rice Road in Chehalis, according to a report made to police about 6 p.m. on Friday. Missing are a Kicker 12-inch subwoofer and a Rockford-Fosgate 250-watt amplifier, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

FINGERPRINTS REVEAL IMPOSTOR INMATE

• A woman booked into the Lewis County Jail for third-degree theft on Thursday who had somewhere important to be on Friday allegedly assumed the identity of her younger sister, leading to a new arrest for forgery and identity theft. She was initially arrested by Centralia police but the finger prints the next day showed she was Courtney L. Sturdevant, 24, not her 20-year-old sibling who lives out of state, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said the Chehalis resident went through the entire booking process including falsely signing documents. She reportedly admitted what she had done and said she needed to be out of jail because she was scheduled for an appointment on Friday. Sturdevant had outstanding warrants.

DRUGS

• A 45-year-old Centralia man detained yesterday evening for suspected shoplifting at the 1500 block of Louisiana Avenue was subsequently arrested for possession of methamphetamine, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Charles E. Norskog was booked into the Lewis County Jail, also for second-degree introducing contraband, according to police.

• The driver of an erratic vehicle stopped around 10:35 p.m. in the area of the 1400 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue in Chehalis was subsequently arrested for possession of methamphetamine, possession of brass knuckles, driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Terry L. Bryan, 36, of Centralia, was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.

ON THE ROAD, OFF THE ROAD

• A motorist left the roadway and struck a power pole at the 1400 block of South Gold Street last night, knocking out electricity to the area for about four hours, according to the Centralia Police Department. Officers responding just before 8 p.m. cited the driver for speeding and not having insurance, according to police.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor theft, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, dispute, hit and run, shoplifting, civil issue, disorderly person, misdemeanor assault, collision on city street … and more, among 121 calls for local law enforcement and / or fire-emergency medical services in the 24-hour period ending about 6:30 a.m. today.