Updated at 8:51 p.m.
ACCIDENTAL THEFT
• A Chehalis resident in his mid-20s is in trouble after leaving a party, wandering through a strange neighborhood and somehow driving himself home in someone else’s truck. Centralia police were called just before 10 a.m. on Saturday about a missing 1998 Ford Ranger from the area of the 1700 block of Shamrock Drive. Several other vehicles in the area were found to have been rummaged through and a cell phone discovered left in one of them, according to police. Police traced its owner to a Chehalis residence and found the Ford Ranger parked outside, according to Sgt. Kurt Reichert. When an officer contacted the phone’s owner and asked if he knew why she was there, he said said it must be about the truck, Reichert said. He advised he’d been very drunk and recalled walking through a neighborhood he did not recognize, then being inside a running truck on Interstate 5, but didn’t know how he got home, Reichert said. He was not arrested or booked, but police are referring the case to prosecutors for evaluation of possible charges, such as taking a motor vehicle without permission, Reichert said. Police don’t know how he got the truck to start as its owner said there was no key in it. The supposition is the man tried his keys in various vehicles and it happened to work in the Ford Ranger, Reichert said.
MORTON MAN INJURED AT CHEHALIS BAR
• Chehalis police are investigating a possible assault that left a 27-year-old Morton man laying on a sidewalk outside Garbe’s bar with a head injury early yesterday morning. Officers called about 1:40 a.m. to the 300 block of Northwest Chehalis Avenue reported the victim was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital and then transferred to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia with brain swelling. A spokesperson for the Chehalis Police Department today said no arrest had been made and the case is ongoing.
ATTEMPTED THEFT OF LENSES FROM MAN’S EYES
• A 20-year-old Centralia man is in the Lewis County Jail facing a possible charge of second-degree robbery after he allegedly attempted to steal a pair of contact lenses right out of the victim’s eyes. It happened outside the train station in Centralia. Police called about 2:30 p.m. on Friday to the 200 block of Railroad Avenue were told the suspect used threats, intimidation and bullying to try to steal a watch and the colored lenses belonging to a man in his 20s, according to the Centralia Police Department. Sgt. Kurt Reichert said at one point he reportedly grabbed the guy and told him to take out the lenses and hand them over. Arriving officers located their suspect in the area short time later, Reichert said. He didn’t actually get the contacts, Reichert said. Richard A. James was arrested and booked into jail, according to police.
DOMESTIC ASSAULT
• A 47-year-old Centralia area man was arrested for second-degree assault after a deputy responded late Saturday afternoon to the 600 block of Centralia-Alpha Road where the man’s live-in girlfriend was found with injuries to her face. Gerald R. Ebner allegedly struck her with his hands and elbows, according to the lewis County Sheriff’s Office. He was was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to Sgt. Rob Snaza.
STUPID KID STUFF
• Centralia police were called yesterday to the 1000 block of F Street when two subjects dressed in banana costumes were caught spray painting graffiti on a building. A witness pointed out the house where the youngsters had gone to and an arriving officer spotted through a window the peeled banana costumes on the floor of the residence, according to the Centralia Police Department. The 13-year-old girls were contacted, Sgt. Kurt Reichert said. Neither the gold-colored spray painted symbol left on the building, nor the suspects, struck him as gang related, Reichert said. The case will be referred to prosecutors for possible charges of malicious mischief, he said.
• An 18-year-old Rochester man was arrested last night at Wal-Mart for possession of a concealed weapon without a permit when he was spotted by an off-duty police officer with a handgun in his front pants pocket. It was noticed because he kept pushing it back in, according to the Chehalis Police Department. An officer called about 11:15 p.m. to the retailer at the 1600 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue cited Nathanial D. Klamn also for unlawful use of a firearm by a minor, a department spokesperson said. He was then released, according to police. The young man was not waving it around or anything, Officer Linda Bailey said, but she wasn’t sure of the details that led to the second offense.
GUNS STOLEN
• A deputy was called on Saturday regarding the theft of several firearms missing from a storage shed at the 900 block of Byham Road in Winlock, according to a report made to the the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The victim, a 47-year-old Castle Rock man, said he’d left them at the residence and they went missing sometime since Oct. 12, according to the sheriff’s office. Taken were four double-barreled shotguns and three 22 rifles, Sgt. Rob Snaza said. The loss is more than $1,400, Snaza said.
CAR PROWLS
• Centralia police were called about 2:30 p.m. yesterday to the 1000 block of West Walnut Street regarding two vehicles that were prowled. Not known if anything was stolen, according Centralia Police Department.
• Police were called about 1:20 a.m. yesterday to the 100 block of Ash Street in Centralia where an individual said they confronted a stranger inside their vehicle. The subject, described as wearing a black hoodie and camo pants fled, according Centralia Police Department.
• Centralia police took a report of vehicle prowl yesterday from the 600 block of G Street that occurred the night before.
• Police took a report about 4 a.m. on Saturday of items stolen from a vehicle at the 2300 block of Schueber Ridge Court in Centralia.
• Someone stole a firearm valued at more than $2,000 from a vehicle when it was parked at the 100 block of U.S. Highway 12 outside Napavine between 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Friday, according to a report made to the the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday. It was a Weatherby, according to the sheriff’s office.
WRECK
• A 49-year-old woman was injured when she wrecked her vehicle on state Route 7 near milepost 14 near Mineral, according to the Washington State Patrol. Troopers called about 4 p.m. on Saturday determined Susan Pfutxenreuter, of Mineral, was southbound when her 1998 Dodge Caravan left the roadway to the right and into a ditch, according to the state patrol. The vehicle was described as totaled. She was transported to Morton General Hospital, according to the investigating trooper. She faces a possible charge of driving under the influence, according to the state patrol.
• A 37-year-old Chehalis woman got a broken foot and night in jail for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol when she rolled through a stop sign and into a fence at Avery Road East and Jackson Highway about 2 a.m. on Saturday. Kari A. Niles was subsequently booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
• A 54-year-old Salkum woman was reportedly uninjured but her 2005 Volvo station wagon was totaled when she struck a deer about 7:30 a.m. on Friday at the 5500 block of Jackson Highway near Toledo, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor assault, driving under the influence; responses for alarms, disputes, bike theft, minor collisions, stolen license plate, shoplifting of beer, possible runaway, suspicious circumstances, a drunk juvenile walking in the street, cell phone and wallet missing from jacket at bar at closing time; complaint about someone gathering signatures on a petition who wasn’t explaining it right … and more.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter