Updated at 6:51 p.m.
THWARTED SCAM
• Chehalis police were called yesterday to Safeway when an employee got suspicious about a transaction a woman in her early 70s was attempting to conduct. The woman was apparently selling a time-share in Hawaii and she was wiring a buyer money and the buyer said he was going to mail her a check, according to the Chehalis Police Department. An arriving officer phoned the buyer who immediately hung up on him, Sgt. Gwen Carrell said. When the buyer then phoned the woman and the police officer answered, the man hung up again, Carrell said.
RECOVERED VEHICLES
• Centralia police yesterday afternoon recovered a Honda stolen last week. It was found abandoned in a parking lot with its ignition “punched,” according to the Centralia Police Department
• A 2009 Audi reported missing about 12:40 a.m. Sunday from Panisco Road near Cinebar was found just after 1 a.m. in the parking lot at Wal-Mart in Chehalis, according to police. The 49-year-old roommate of its owner was sleeping in the car and arrested and booked into jail. He is to be released from jail pending further investigation.
SHORT POLICE CHASE
• A 45-year-old Chehalis man was arrested for attempting to elude after a brief pursuit by police abut 11:40 p.m. on Friday that began near Fair Street in Chehalis. The pursuit was terminated but the officer soon came upon a trooper with Scott R. Mullins who had wrecked near Kresky Avenue and Summa Street, according to Sgt. Gwen Carrell. Mullins was released from jail yesterday afternoon.
THEFT
• Police took a report around noon yesterday about plywood stolen from a residence under renovation at the 400 block of South Tower Avenue in Centralia.
TOLEDO FIRE
• Three fire departments were dispatched just before 11 o’clock last night to a mobile home fire near Toledo. Lewis County Fire District 2 Capt. Tracy Summers said when they arrived to the 200 block of Kangas Road, flames were rolling out a window on one end. He described the trailer as a complete loss. Nobody was living in it, but the woman on the property used it as her sewing house, he said. No injuries were reported. Summers said it appeared to have originated near the circuit box.
MORTON RESIDENT SCAMMED OUT OF $6,000
• An elderly Morton man was tricked into sending thousands of dollars to an individual pretending to be from a law enforcement agency in Canada, who claimed the Morton man’s grown daughter had been arrested and needed $2,000 bail money. The man contacted the Morton Police Department last week after he realized what happened, Chief Dan Mortensen said. The victim got the first phone call about two days earlier telling him his grown daughter was in jail for driving under the influence and possessing marijuana, according to Mortensen. “They actually put him on the telephone with a person who identified herself as his daughter,” Mortensen said. “She sounded like his daughter, and called him a name she calls him.” Then the Morton man, whose name was not released, was called a second time and told something went wrong, so he needed to send another $2,000, the chief said. He was told to send it to Puerto Rico, because “the bail bondsman were all at a conference there.” A third phone call asked for $2,000 more for airfare so she could get home, he said. “I think at the time, the light came on,” Mortensen said. The man’s real daughter was on vacation, according to Mortensen. The chief said it’s a scam that’s been been going on for quite some time. The money is gone, the chief said. He had no expectation the Morton Police Department or any law enforcement agency could help the victim get it back, since the money was sent out of the country, he said.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
A few months ago a friend of mine who lives in Montana called me and said what the heck is going on?? Are you ok? I said yea and she said where are you? And I said uh, here at home , and she said doing what ? I started laughing , and said well if you must know taking a shower in my bathroom . I asked what the heck is wrong with you I only missed one call (because of shower) . she said she got a e-mail from me saying I was in Cyprus and needed $3000!!! and would pay her back when I got home. It said I was in big trouble. So She just called me , I had also been getting some e-mails from a old contact that I was no longer in contact with offering some get rich quick opportunity , the contact was a sixteen year old son of a former client that I had at one time sent some cool pictures of cars I had recieved . Anyway my friend contacted the Cyprus e-mail and told them she was turning the whole thing over to the FBI and she did. The whole incident was weird and annoying but people really need to check it out because she would have tried to help me out if she’d have really thought I was in trouble. I laughed and said what the hell would I be doing in Greece ??? She said, ” beats me I thought it was a ways to go to get outa Dodge” but she is the kind of gal that not only would she bail ya out but she would help ya bury the body with no questions asked so be careful out there folks because there are alot of folks lookin to relieve you of your money.
WHY do people leave valuables and firearms in unlocked vehicles?! Anyone leaving a firearm in an unlocked vehicle should not own one in the first place. If you value your possessions, LOCK THE DANG CAR! Sad that it’s come to have to be this way; unfortunately it’s the new norm. So nice were the days when cars could remain unlocked, windows down and keys in the ignition; they days when you could sleep with the windows open, leave your doors unlocked, leave your bicycle outside the corner store. Tsk tsk tsk.