Updated at 12:26 p.m.
WOMAN ACCOSTED ON CENTRALIA STREET
• Centralia police were called about 3:20 p.m. yesterday to the 1200 block of Mellen Street after a homeless man allegedly attempted to steal a cell phone from a pedestrian. “The guy approaches her, talks to her, reaches in a grabs her cell phone from her pocket,” Sgt. Kurt Reichert said. She screamed, he was arrested, according to Reichert. Andre Smith, 34, from the Los Angles area, had blocked the 27-year-old woman and asked where she’d been all his life, according to Reichert. The sergeant indicated he had the impression Smith was less than stable. Smith was booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree robbery.
SCRAP STOLEN
• An officer took a report about 5 p.m. yesterday from an auto repair business on the 1600 block of South Gold Street in Centralia of stolen scrap metal. The loss as estimated at almost $1,700, according to the Centralia Police Department.
PROPANE TANK KEY LIFTED FROM SERVICE STATION
• Centralia police were called to a gas station on the 1000 block of Ellsbury Street about 9:20 p.m. yesterday when a key mysteriously vanished along with a pair of males men who had asked for change. When the clerk returned with the change, the key for the propane filling station was missing and the customers were gone, according to police. Jeremy D. Jackson, a 30-year-old homeless man, was subsequently identified and arrested for third-degree theft, according to Sgt. Kurt Reichert. A police dog found the discarded key in some weeds nearby, Reichert said.
DRUGS MISSING
• Police were called about 9 p.m. yesterday to a home on the 1400 block of Johnson Road in Centralia where a woman said someone came into her unlocked residence and stole a bottle of medication.
CAR PROWL
• A wallet and money were among the items taken in a vehicle prowl on the 300 block of South Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police yesterday at around 11:15 a.m. Some 45 minutes later, another car prowl was reported in the same area, according to the Centralia Police Department.
DRUGS FOUND
• A package containing suspected drugs which was left behind on a motel room on the 1300 block of Belmont Avenue in Centralia is being sent to a lab for finger printing, according to the Centralia Police Department.
• A 27-year-old Centralia woman was arrested for possession of methamphetamine at the 1300 block of Lakeshore Drive in Centralia last night. Jobie K. Watson was booked into the Lewis County Jail after contact with an officer shortly after 11:30 p.m., according to the Centralia Police Department. She is to be released with no charges pending further investigation.
DOG POOP CALL
• Chehalis police were called about 4 p.m. yesterday when someone phoned 911 to say two men let their dog poop right in front of Security State Bank on Northwest Louisiana Avenue, although they did clean it up. No arrests were made.
HUMONGOUS BRUSH PILE FIRE
• A giant pile of timber and brush that ignited near Rochester was contained overnight but is expected to burn for days, according to fire officials. Firefighters were called about 9 p.m. yesterday to the acreage near Interstate 5 at the 16500 block of Case Road, according to West Thurston Regional Fire Authority. An assistant chief from one of the seven fire departments which joined them said it was described to him as 300,000 cubic feet of material harvested from along the freeway. Spokesperson Lanette Dyer indicated it covered two to three acres.
Courtesy photo by West Thurston Regional Fire Authority