Lewis County Sirens.com

Thomas L. Pleasant is sentenced today in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – For the second time in his life, a former Centralia man has been sentenced to life in prison.

Thomas L. Pleasant, 50, went before a judge today in Lewis County Superior Court, having pleaded guilty last month to first-degree robbery and second-degree assault for what took place at the Chehalis Subway store late one night in the summer of 2008.

It was a third strike case with a mandatory punishment neither the prosecutor or defense attorney disputed.

Judge Richard Brosey agreed Pleasant’s 1989 conviction  for first-degree robbery in Pierce County and a Colorado conviction for assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon counted as strikes one and two.

“You’re sentenced to the state Department of Corrections for the rest of your natural life, without the possibility of release or parole,” Brosey told the defendant.

Pleasant readily admitted to a string of robberies that summer, and by the end of 2008, was convicted of three first-degree robberies in Cowlitz County and sent off to prison for life, under the same persistent offender law.

Lewis County detectives interviewed him before he left and charges were filed in Lewis County for the July 16, 2008 holdup of the lone female employee at the shop in the Twin City Town Center. The charges were first-degree robbery and first-degree rape.

He admitted robbing her with a pellet gun that looked real, tying her up with an electrical cord and putting her in a walk-in cooler. When she was interviewed, she told of the same events, along with him asking her if she wanted to live and then with a gun to her back, raping her, according to court documents.

Pleasant denied the rape in 2008 and again today.

Lewis County Senior Prosecuting Attorney Will Halstead and Centralia defense attorney Don Blair struck a plea deal, agreeing the rape charge would be dismissed for “evidentiary reasons”.

Blair addressed the court this afternoon, and said his client’s DNA was not present, but other males’ DNA was. Judge Brosey said he understood the Chehalis Police Department no longer had the evidence for the case.

“We believe we would have prevailed on that count,” Blair said.

Pleasant accepted the judge’s offer to speak on his own behalf and told him he was willing to accept the consequences.

“It is what it is,” Pleasant said. “I don’t know why the person said what she said.

“I know I went in, I robbed her, tied her up and put her in the cooler; that was it.”

Halstead told the judge he’d met with the victim as recently as Monday, and believed she now understood why he amended the charges downward.

He read a letter from the victim, who was not named. “She’s adamant she was raped,” he said.

“To whom it may concern: I have to live with what happened to me every day

“I never asked to be robbed at gunpoint, raped and put in a cooler.”

She continued on how she would have liked to stand up to her attacker at trial, but that was taken from her.

“What does that say about the Lewis County court system,” Halstead read. “About the Chehalis Police Department?”

Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer this afternoon said the evidence was not lost, it was destroyed and he’s not sure exactly where along the line the case came apart.

The department keeps case evidence in a vault and periodically gets rid of or returns what they don’t need any longer, he said.

The department routinely checks with the prosecutor’s office before taking such actions though, according to Schaffer.

“We sent a note and the prosecutor’s office checked off on it,” he said.

Schaffer said he wasn’t certain at this point if his department erred in making the request, or if the prosecutor’s office erred in approving it.

“I’m not looking to place any blame, I don’t know,” he said.
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For background, read “Suspect from 2008 Subway robbery initiated reopening his case” from Monday March 7, 2016, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Convicted killer John A. Booth Jr. will be back in Lewis County next month, when a judge will hear his contention eavesdropping on inmates in the jail was governmental misconduct and jeopardized his rights to confidential communications with his lawyers.

The former Onalaskan was sentenced to life in prison for the August 2010 shootings at the home of 52-year-old David West Sr., from whom prosecutors contended Booth was seeking payment of a debt for a local drug dealer.

John A. Booth Jr.

Booth was 31 years old when he was arrested for the slayings of three people, and wounding of a fourth person at the residence on Wings Way, off of Gore Road.

He’s lost his appeal, he’s lost his personal restraint petition and the upcoming hearing grows out of his December 2012 motion to vacate the judgement and sentence based on court rule 7.8.

He is represented by court assigned defense attorney Erik Kupka.

Kupka and Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher went before Lewis County Superior Court Judge RIchard Brosey this afternoon.

Booth and Kupka have requested various documents from the state to prepare for the hearing, and today Meagher told the judge his position is all information required to be turned over has been turned over.

Judge Brosey said he was denying any further requests for materials related to Booth’s request, noting his attorney would presumably make requests as he sees fit.

Four of the many individuals from the sheriff’s office expected at the May hearing have pre-paid planned vacations, according to Meagher.

Judge Brosey indicated they should be excused from the May 2 and May 3 proceedings, and if their testimony is still needed, the proceedings can reconvene when they return.

Booth was sentenced under the state’s so-called three strikes law.

Losing their lives on Aug. 21, 2010, along with West Sr., were 16-year-old David “D.J.” West Jr. and 50-year-old Tony Williams of Randle. West Sr.’s girlfriend, Denise Salts, survived a gunshot wound to her face

Booth denied shooting them.
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For background, read “”Ear hustling”: Convicted murderer John Booth tells judge about problems at Lewis County Jail” from Friday July 5, 2013, here

Gregory L. Trujillo is being held in the Lewis County Jail on $500,000 bail.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 58-year-old man accused of beating a woman and attacking her with a knife at her Winlock home will get his chance to make his plea in Lewis County Superior Court on Thursday morning.

Gregory L. Trujillo is being held on $500,000 bail following his arrest last week for the incident.

He is charged with first-degree assault.

The Toledo area man appeared before a judge in a wheel chair last week. Defense attorney Joely O’Rourke noted he worked as a longshoreman, is a longtime area resident and has lots of family ties to the community.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Nelson told the judge Trujillo had July 2012 convictions for second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and felony harassment.

Trujillo was picked up by police the night before at a Chehalis motel after his release from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Toledo Police Department Chief John Brockmueller said the night it happened, Trujillo sustained wounds to his abdomen and the woman had lacerations to her upper extremities. She declined an ambulance and was going to the hospital with a friend.

Police were still working the following Monday to figure out who did what.

Charging documents in the case don’t offer any clues about a disagreement between the two before the assault.

They give the following account of the emergency response about 9:30 p.m. on April 1 to the 300 block of Cedar Court in Winlock.

Police documented blood smears and splatters at various locations throughout the woman’s house. They were unable to locate the weapon, but were told it was a small-bladed knife.

The woman had multiple bruises on different parts of her body, a black eye swollen shut. She sustained a large deep gash from the palm of her hand near her ring finger to the outer portion of her hand near her wrist.

She was located at a neighbors. Trujillo was still inside the house.

Officers surrounded the residence and made multiple attempts to contact him with no response and finally made entry and found him in a bedroom, with what appeared to be stab wounds to his belly.

No information is included regarding a police interview with Trujillo.

The woman however, spoke to police.

She said the two had been in an intimate relationship for a couple of months, and on that date, he found her at a neighbor’s and asked if he could speak with her at her house. She agreed.

“As the victim walked into her house, the defendant began beating her with his closed fists,” Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Sheila Weirth wrote. “The victim tried to get away by moving toward the back of the house, while the defendant kept on hitting her, kicking her and even biting her.”

She said he pulled out a knife with a black handle and began attacking her. She used her hands to try to protect herself.

She managed to get back to the living room and as she moved to escape out the front door, Trujillo yelled, “You’re not leaving here alive, Bitch!”

At that point the neighbor knocked, the victim opened the door and the two fled.

Judge Richard Brosey last Thursday afternoon appointed Centralia attorney Don Blair to represent Trujillo. A no-contact order was also put into place.

Trujillo’s arraignment is Thursday morning.
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For background, read “News brief: One booked for Winlock knife incident” from for Thursday April 7, 2016, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A couple whose Packwood cabin was broken into the week before last managed to track down what they were missing the most: three hand-carved Native American masks.

The objects would be worth hundreds of dollar apiece in a gallery, but have sentimental value for Bob Cartano.

He got them years ago when he was working with native bands in Alaska and Canada developing timber, he said.

Shaman mask

The Seattle residents were contemplating offering a reward for the return of the artwork and this morning, he was checking eBay to find monetary values for the masks. The insurance company had given him a lot forms to fill out, he said.

He got lucky.

“He saw them along with antique snowshoes for sale by a shop in downtown Snoqualmie,” Maureen Cartano said in an email message this afternoon. “We drove out, contacted local police, and the shop owner gave them back.”

The Cartanos lost many other valuables in the break-in, mostly tools. Today, besides the masks, he got back his ski shoes and their snowshoes. All were listed for sale on eBay.

One of the masks was broke in half and glued already, presumably from falling off the wall from high up, when the thief or thieves used a ski pole to pull them off their hooks, he said.

Bob Cartano said he has quite a collection of masks, but it was his three favorite he kept at the cabin.

He was feeling so good about his sleuthing skills today, he was sort of hoping he could get designated an honorary deputy.

For the week, he said.

Three others property owners were victimized in the same gated neighborhood on Teal Drive in Packwood during the same time frame, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy called to the area on April 2, a Saturday, determined they were hit sometime since the Tuesday evening prior.

The initial total loss was with more than $4,000.

The shop owner in Snoqualmie told the officer who spoke with him he had purchased the masks from three people whose black SUV was “full of stuff.”