By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A 47-year-old man was arrested yesterday after deputies investigating a nighttime theft of about 1,600 gallons of fuel from a Silver Creek gas station searched his vehicle in Doty and discovered the bed of the canopied pickup truck held two large fuel tanks, a portable pump and a nozzle.
Detectives served a search warrant at the 100 block of Elk Creek Road in Doty and also found plug-in access key pads used to override gasoline pumps, according to court documents.
Jason A. Lewis was charged in Lewis County Superior Court today with first-degree theft, first-degree trafficking in stolen property and possession of methamphetamine.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Eric Eisenberg told the judge there were lots of firearms found at the residence and he would be seeking an arrest warrant for the property owner, Harold Lusk. He didn’t say specifically what for.
Charging documents describe the owner of the Texaco on the 2900 block of U.S. Highway 12 contacting law enforcement on Monday after surveillance video showed three vehicles arrive and somehow pump about $6,000 worth of fuel without paying. Taken was regular unleaded gasoline, highway diesel and off-road diesel, according to charging documents.
Sherry Lyons called deputies again on Wednesday to report that new video showed the same people returned in the early morning hours, but were unable to activate the pump. The code had been changed after the first theft.
Detectives recognized the face of a passenger of one of the vehicles who then tried to move Texaco’s security camera so it no longer faced toward the pumps, charging documents state.
Detectives – using previous information they’d been told about Lusk and possible fuel thefts – compared his driver’s license photo with the video images and concluded he was one of the three, charging documents state.
More than a month earlier, detectives had been told by an unnamed person that Lusk and his associates had been stealing large quantities of gas from local stations, according to the documents. The same person said they were cooking methamphetamine at the property, but no mention was made in Lewis’s charging documents of meth-making materials located during the search.
However, found at the Elk Creek Road property were numerous containers of gasoline, including a 55-gallon drum of it stored in a barn where Lewis’s travel trailer was parked, according to the documents.
Two baggies of suspected methamphetamine were allegedly located in Lewis’s trailer.
Lewis reportedly admitted to detectives pumping gas at the Texaco, but said he used his credit card and said he’d purchased some fuel from the men in the video for $2 per gallon, according to the documents.
Eisenberg requested Lewis’s bail be set at $20,000, in part because it appears Lewis has an extensive criminal history in California, under a different name.
Defense attorney Bob Schroeter said Lewis denies being the person with the different name.
He noted Lewis has been in the area about two years, and he was confident he would be looking for a different place to move his travel trailer.
Charging documents state deputies found a lot of gasoline of at the Doty property, but not 1,600 gallons, suggesting some had been sold or otherwise distributed.
Law enforcement had not yet located Lusk or the third man as of this afternoon.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Okay, just to be clear, I think Rush Limbaugh is a liberal, global warming is a hoax and the man in the White House is not qualified either lawfully or otherwise. So, this means I am wrong to think stealing is wrong. If that what I get from me’s tantrum? Since me doesn’t like working for a living stealing is okay, just not for the purchase of meth. I think I got it now.
Me, why not put the blame where it belongs? People like you who don’t want to work and think people like me who think you should are real cause of most of the world’s problems. You just can’t justify stealing no matter who it is from or what you think of Rush Limbaugh.
“I do know that the system we live in is messed up and we need to pay closer attention to the things they called legal and make sure we take care of our own the way I see it that’s exactly what they were doing.”
Where is there a system in which it’s legal to steal $6,000 in gasoline so it can be resold because it’s “taking care of our own?” Now THAT would be messed up.
I agree with only one of you the rest of you don’t know wtf your talking about really. The ones that talk the ;loudest are the ones that believe Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the BS that global warming is a joke or our president isn’t American how lose am I hypocrites until you know what’s really going on you need to keep your rocks in your head. I don’t agree with stealing I don’t do meth. I do know that the system we live in is messed up and we need to pay closer attention to the things they called legal and make sure we take care of our own the way I see it that’s exactly what they were doing. Taking care of each other we could all learn a lesson here
Please people don’t fool yourselves. They weren’t stealing gas so they could go towork! They stole it to support the habit. These people have no jobs and prefer tosteal from those who do. Shame on them…these people have no morals or conscience. Karma n all…Also, to the little girl involved in all this….nice beginning to your life! Thank god you have no kids!
Dad gum it anyway, Harold.
he, he, what he said he, he, republicant jogger
I don’t know wtf, could be that there was meth found on the dirtbag thief’s property, duh… You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to connect the dots here. Dirtbag tweaker caught stealing, hmmmm, I doubt it was to get money to feed himself or his family, probably not to save to send a kid to college, yep, leaves about one thing, supporting his drug habit. Stealing a commodity from a small business man who makes almost no margin on at all. If you haven’t guessed yet I have zero sympathy for meth users and their actions.
Please, the “economy sucks” ploy has been played out. It is the best it has been since 2007!
Just a bunch of burnout tweakers stealing like usual. Should take 10 gallons of the gas and light the thieves on fire!
wtf,wtf? so the price of fuel is outrageous, but stealing it and then re-selling it makes it ok? lets say it takes them 2 hours to steal 1600 gallons and they sell it for 2 per gallon would be a profit of $3200 dollars divided by 3 = 1067 dollars each-not a bad wage for 2 hours of work? well one must take out expenses out of this and most likely pay the IRS for any profits? I am thinking they are probably making a cool $800 each for 2 hours work. Well it might be stealing , but it is work to them
There’s already a move among some pols in Olympia to tax drivers in Washington by tracking how many miles their vehicles are driven (along with where they go). There are already radio frequency ID chips in driver’s licenses and windshield transponders for drivers taking toll roads in Washington State so this isn’t too far-fetched. Cars are more fuel-efficient now so the state isn’t collecting as much tax revenue from gas sales as they used to and they want to get that revenue back somehow.
It looks pretty certain these guys near Doty ARE tweakers, but wtf is on to something. Gas IS expensive, the filling stations aren’t making that much profit from it (diesel’s been where the money is) and even with better MPG-rated vehicles there’s still a huge demand out there. STEALING gasoline is illegal but possessing the gas itself isn’t and I don’t think gas is something ATF chases after.
Why is everyones reasoning for stealing stea got to be dope and tweakers supporting their habits. I’m thinking that their reason for stealing gas has nothing to do with a habit! Why don’t you people try to see a much bigger picture here, like the price of fuel is outrageous and the economy sucks and probably sooner then you think we will be regulated on our fuel consumption just like everything else
Stealing gasoline, REALLY? The tweakers around Lewis County will stoop to any level to support their habits. Please, before anyone responds saying I am heartless and don’t understand addiction, SAVE IT, these turds can be addicted all they want, just stop involving innocent people and businesses in your life.
wow-and on the road I live on, and I suspected nothing other than a bunch of deadbeat druggies
How much exactly is ALOT of gasoline?