Lewis County Sirens.com

James G. Blunt is shown his seat in Lewis County Superior Court

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  A 51-year-old driver with a half-finished Mike’s Hard Lemonade in his vehicle who allegedly told the deputy who stopped him for speeding he’d had about four hits of marijuana roughly five minutes earlier, was arrested for driving under the influence early yesterday east of Chehalis.

But James G. Blunt, who said he was headed home to Mossyrock, was arrested for felony DUI, not the more common offense that is a gross misdemeanor.

Back in 2001, Blunt had fatally struck a bicyclist near Mossyrock, while he was intoxicated and was convicted in Lewis County Superior Court of vehicular homicide while under the influence. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

He was booked into the Lewis County Jail early yesterday and then brought before a judge that afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Blye asked the judge to hold Blunt on $25,000 bail, noting the defendant had three DUI convictions even before the deadly collision in 2001. Temporary defense attorney Rachael Tiller requested it be set with a $5,000 unsecured bond, relating that her client had lived in Mossyrock nearly his whole life.

Judge James Lawler set bail at $50,000, citing community safety concerns.

Lewis County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said the possible penalty for felony DUI is 10 years in prison. Any person who gets arrested for driving under the influence and has ever in their past been convicted of vehicular homicide or vehicular assault – because of intoxication – can be charged with felony DUI, he said.

Alternatively, a person who has had three DUI convictions and is arrested for driving under the influence a fourth time within a 10-year period, can be also charged with felony DUI, Meagher said.

According to charging documents and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy pulled Blunt over about 1:30 a.m. on Friday on Centralia Alpha Road near Oppelt Road because he was traveling 65 mph in a 50 mph zone.

He didn’t have a valid driver’s license and allegedly told the deputy he’d taken the tabs off his girlfriend’s Mustang and put them on his truck. The Hard Lemonade container in his vehicle was about half empty, and Blunt said that’s all the alcohol he’d had. Field sobriety tests were conducted. Then he was arrested.

Tiller told the judge yesterday she believed he qualified for a court appointed attorney. Judge Lawler appointed Kevin Nelson.

Blunt’s arraignment was scheduled for Thursday.

Janet L. Anderson prepares to leave the courtroom, after being sentenced to more than 18 years in prison.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  The woman who fatally shot her husband inside their north Centralia home made two phone calls the day of the murder to the woman she believed was having an affair with her husband, authorities say.

“We know there was an argument,” Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead said as he sought to share some details with the judge at her sentencing hearing.

There was no trial to reveal all the evidence police had gathered, as 40-year-old Janet L. Anderson entered into a deal with prosecutors that led to her pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Halstead said prosecutors had contemplated increasing the charge to first-degree murder.

Janet L. Anderson, Dec. 2016

Anderson went before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon, knowing a recommendation for her to spend more than 18 years in prison was coming.

She appeared to go out of her way to keep her back to the audience which held numerous family.

While the initial affidavit of probable cause stated Anderson later told police that after two hours of fighting, she shot her husband because he grabbed his gun and was pointing it at her, Halstead suggested to the court some of her claims were suspect.

“Each had a gun on their own nightstand,” he said.

She’d said that afterward, she threw a towel over her husband’s gun so their son would not see it, Halstead said. But the towel was both under and over that gun, he said. Police found her blood by her husband’s night stand, indicating she had walked over there to retrieve his gun, according to Halstead.

When Anderson pleaded guilty two weeks ago to second-degree murder, she also pleaded guilty to two counts of tampering with physical evidence.

Four rounds were fired; one through a window, another lodged in a wall, Halstead said. One bullet entered his lower back and another his neck.

Halstead reminded the judge when police entered the couple’s bedroom to investigate, they found the body wrapped in a tarp and that Janet Anderson had cleaned up.

“She didn’t call 911 until the following morning, roughly at 8:30,” he said.

Ty W. Anderson, 41, was dead when officers arrived to the residence off of West Oakview Avenue in the Hunter’s Walk neighborhood the morning of Dec. 17.

“She believed he’d cheated on her with a coworker,” Halstead said.

When they checked her phone records, they saw she had phoned the woman, though the calls were not answered, he said.

In bringing the judge up to speed about what led them all to this day in court, Halstead added that while the couple’s young daughter had spent the night with grandparents, their teenage son came home that night and slept, with his father dead in the next room.

Defense attorney Shane O’Rourke asked the court to adopt the agreed recommendation of  220 months, the high end of the standard sentencing range.

Judge Andrew Toynbee heard from Ty Anderson’s aunt, an uncle and his mother. Each wanted the court to know he was loved and missed. Ty Anderson worked in the woods, went to Alaska and then became an iron worker. He was his mother’s only son.

Judge Toynbee imposed the sentence of 18 years and four months, with three years of supervision after release. He ordered Janet Anderson to get an evaluation for anger management and abide by the recommendations.

“This is a tragedy in all respects,” he said.
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For background, read “Wife of slain Centralia man admits she shot him, avoids trial” from Wednesday September 13, 2017, here

Jian Ming Zhu, left, and Jin Liang Tan await their turn to go in front of a judge in Lewis County Superior Court

Updated at 7:32 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  Two men arrested after more than 2,000 marijuana plants were found growing in two rural Chehalis homes were brought before a judge today in Lewis County Superior Court.

Jin Liang Tan, 36, and Jian Ming Zhu, 61, were held overnight in the Lewis County Jail after search warrants were served yesterday at the 400 block of Centralia-Alpha Road and the 200 block of Pattee Road by a contingent that included local, state and federal authorities.

The investigation stemmed from a May investigation into a marijuana cultivation organization that stretched from California to Washington, according to the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team.

Law enforcement officers found the two men at the Pattee Road residence where they both live. JNET says they also live in San Francisco.

JNET was joined by personnel from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, the Centralia Police Department, the Chehalis Police Department, the Lewis County Regional SWAT Team and the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Control Board. A special agent from the Portland office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly advised Tan of his rights in his native language.

There, police found 1,059 growing plants in several different rooms as well as several pounds of dried product.

At the Centralia-Alpha Road location, authorities seized 28 pounds of dried marijuana from a shop building and then 1,187 plants growing in seven rooms. Thousands of dollars worth of growing equipment was also confiscated from both places, according to JNET.

JNET said yesterday’s event came from information from numerous search warrants, following an earlier seizure of more than 2,500 marijuana plants from a sheriff’s office operation on the 100 block of Senn Road.

Investigators got power records from the two homes and found the usage was 10 times that of comparable-sized residences, according to court documents. During surveillance, they were able to smell the marijuana and came to recognize a van – a Toyota Sienna – at both residences which is registered to Zhu, court documents relate.

The men were charged today with manufacture of marijuana, a class C felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison. However, the allegation is the activities took place within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop, which carries an additional penalty, if convicted.

According to charging documents, Tan told law enforcement he tends to the plants, has transported large amounts of marijuana to Seattle in exchange for $900 per pound and that “random” people pick up the bulk marijuana. He said he has been given money orders by Zhu to pay the utilities.

JNET indicates it believes all the marijuana from this investigation is shipped through the mail and over the highway system to the East Coast.

In court this afternoon, an interpreter said she was called in for a Mandarin language case, but this was a Cantonese case, and she proceeded to assist.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Blye told the judge neither man had any criminal history that she was aware of. Temporary defense attorney Rachael Tiller asked for court appointed lawyers for both men.

Blye asked Judge James Lawler to set their bail with unsecured $10,000 bonds, and the judge agreed. Their arraignments were scheduled for Oct. 26.

Marijuana is legal in Washington under the provisions of Initiative 502, allowing a person 21 or older to possess up to one ounce of dried product and other infused items. It is also legal medicinally where, with the proper documentation, one can grow between six and 15 plants under RCW 69.51A, according to JNET.

“This operation was clearly an abuse of Washington State laws,” the group stated in a press release.

This case is still being investigated by JNET and other state and federal agencies.

There are several outstanding suspects in this investigation that are being sought, according to JNET.

The drug detectives ask that anyone who has information that would assist during the ongoing investigation to please contact them at 360-330-7680.

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Indoor nursery at Centralia-Alpha Road location. / Courtesy photo by JNET