SCUFFLE AT STORE
• Centralia police say a suspected shoplifter fought with security and then fled the 500 block of South Tower Avenue yesterday afternoon but was subsequently located inside an apartment a short distance away. Officers called about 4:20 p.m. learned the shopper had tried to steal items by placing them inside a bag of already purchased goods, according to the Centralia Police Department. Genaro M. Rivas Jr., 23 of Chehalis, was arrested for second-degree robbery and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.
MANHUNT FOR SHED THEFT SUSPECT
• Deputies spent more than an hour searching a wooded area around the 100 block of Sherwood Avenue Cispus yesterday after a man they were attempting to arrest ran out his back door at about 12:30 p.m. According to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, surveillance video captured images of 31-year-old Jesse G. Bailey last Wednesday when two gas cans and a saw were stolen from a storage shed on Churchel Road. Deputies stopped looking for Bailey but hid nearby and shortly after 6:15 p.m., heard someone back inside the home and contacted Bailey, according to the sheriff’s office. Some items were returned and others found in an associate’s vehicle the night before, with other property which deputies may be stolen, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. He was arrested for second-degree burglary and several outstanding warrants and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to Brown.
BREAK-IN CENTRALIA
• Centralia police were called about 10:20 p.m. yesterday after a resident returned home to the 1000 block of J Street to find she had been burglarized. Missing were a laptop computer and jewelry amounting to about $2,000, according to the Centralia Police Department. It wasn’t immediately obvious how anyone got inside the home, according to police.
FRAUD
• Centralia police took a report from a 69-year-old jail inmate yesterday about his missing debit card which was stolen and used at various locations around town. The Hollywood, Calif. man has been at the Lewis County Jail since early Tuesday morning for allegedly punching an emergency room nurse in the stomach. Police Sgt. Stacy Denham said it’s not clear how much the thief has charged onto the bank card, as the victim was so intoxicated he was having trouble remembering places he himself had used it. They have no suspects yet, Denham said.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, protection order violation, driving with suspended license, misdemeanor assault; responses for dispute, misdemeanor theft, collisions on city street; complaint of fireworks at 11:24 p.m. and can’t sleep … and more.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter