
Law enforcement secured a warrant to enter motor home where they found suspect on Friday. / Courtesy photo
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – An individual who recognized the suspect in the robbery of a Morton senior citizen spotted the suspect at a Mossyrock gas station, called 911 and followed him to the Harmony Lakeside RV Park where he was later arrested, according to authorities.
Jason A. Brown, 35, was booked into the Lewis County Jail on Friday and charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with second-degree robbery.
Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead asked that Brown be held on $75,000 bail. Judge James Lawler agreed.
Brown had outstanding warrants from Lewis, Kittitas and Spokane counties at the time of his arrest, according to Halstead.
Morton police have been looking for their suspect since the afternoon of Aug. 29 when they were called to the Morton Country Market on Second Street, where a customer in his early 80s was accosted in the parking lot by an individual who asked him if he had a few dollars, then reached into his pocket, forcefully took his wallet and ran, according to authorities.
Officers were able to view security images that showed the suspect walk out of the store, and look around as if he was looking for someone, before confronting the victim John Zapalac near his car, according to charging documents. The suspect could be seen “crowding” the victim, taking something from him and then getting into a silver Chevrolet Monte Carlo and driving away.
Morton Police Department Chief Roger Morningstar posted pictures of the suspect and his car on social media and then reached out to David Rose, host of the television show Washington’s Most Wanted.
Someone who saw Rose’s piece on the robbery saw the suspect about 2 o’clock on Friday afternoon at the Mossy Mini Shell station, according to the chief.
The tipster followed the car to Silver Creek and saw the suspect enter a Bounder-style motorhome, according to charging documents.
Morningstar said the state patrol got to the RV park first, then Morton police arrived. He said they could hear someone inside the motorhome, but they would not answer the door.
The park manager said she’d seen the suspect coming and going from the RV for several days, charging documents relate.
Morningstar said police knocked on the door, banged on the door and eventually after getting a search warrant, forced the door open.
Brown was in the rear of the RV and was arrested. A second person was arrested for obstruction, according to Halstead.
One of Brown’s warrants was from an Aug. 21 arrest in Chehalis when a neighbor on the 100 block of Southeast First Street called police about a man with a backpack that walked to the back of a residence. An officer arrived to find a man walking out the front door with a purse and a jewelry box and found the back door had been kicked in, according to charging documents in that case.
Halstead said when Brown was arrested, he gave his brother’s name as his own, and after he was released from jail, failed to show up for his arraignment. Lawler set bail this afternoon for that case at an additional $75,000.
Brown’s warrant from Kittitas County is for first-degree theft and his warrant from Spokane County is for three counts of residential burglary, according to prosecutors. Police say he is from Spokane.
The victim in the Morton grocery store parking lot robbery told police his wallet contained $82 cash and other items such as discount cards.
Brown’s arraignment is scheduled for Thursday.
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For background, read “Senior citizen mugged outside Morton grocery” from Wednesday August 30, 2017, here
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