By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – It turns out, 31-year-old Joshua Paul Green wasn’t manufacturing sea coral in his Oxford Avenue house.
It was Ecstasy, an illegal so-called club drug.
Green, who was arrested in late March following a search of his Centralia residence, was sentenced today to four years in prison.
Oxford Avenue house
When he pleaded guilty this morning in Lewis County Superior Court, Green also admitted he wasn’t Jonah Andrew Farrer, a name he’d used with police here before and belonged to a dead man in Alabama.
The plea deal avoided a trial, with the possibility of a much longer prison stay if convicted, because prosecutors previously included a “firearms enhancement” with the other charges. Those can each carry an additional three year sentence.
The Centralia Police Department went to Green’s home on March 29, they said to serve a protection order regarding Green’s girlfriend.
Officers got information Green’s .45 caliber Colt pistol was a stolen gun and secured a search warrant.
Once inside the two-story house, officers found numerous guns and what they suspected was a methamphetamine lab, with amount of chemicals so large, a contractor for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration was called upon to deal with the cleanup.
It turns out none of the guns were stolen, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke said today.
Green’s lawyer told the judge his client owned up to the situation from the beginning. Attorney Michael Underwood wasn’t present at Green’s very first court appearance, when the court was told he was self-employed, growing coral, but hadn’t made any money from that yet.
Green pleaded guilty to manufacture of Ecstasy, and possession of methamphetamine – a personal use amount police found – as well as two counts of identity theft.
Both attorneys agreed upon the length of the sentence they recommended to the judge.
Judge Nelson Hunt went along with it.
He also agreed to waive extradition to Alabama, where he has a warrant because of a probation violation on a juvenile conviction.
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For background, read “Unusual drug lab, guns and a mystery man” from Friday March 30, 2012, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter