Updated at 8:40 p.m.
ATTEMPTED CHILD SNATCHING OR MISTAKEN IDENTITY?
• Centralia police say a 36-year-old man was taken into custody after he allegedly attempted to take a small child that was with its parents in the emergency room at Providence Centralia Hospital last night. The little one was still in its car seat, according to police. When questioned, William M. Eaton believed the child was his, and may have been high on drugs, according to the Centralia Police Department. Hospital security personnel and a police officer who happened to be there for a different reason responded to the approximately 8 p.m. incident. The case is being sent to prosecutors for a recommended charge of attempted kidnapping, according to the Centralia Police Department. Eaton, a Chehalis resident, remains at the hospital being treated for unspecified reasons, and police continue to investigate.
BURGLARY CHEHALIS
• Chehalis police were called just before 5 p.m. yesterday to the 600 block of Northwest St. Helens Avenue when a burglary was discovered. There was no sign of forced entry, but cash was missing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
• Police were called to an apartment on the 300 block of Southwest Third Street in Chehalis just before 7 o’clock last night when a couple came inside from being on their front porch for a few minutes and found the wife’s purse dumped out on their couch. Nothing appeared to be missing, but the residents think someone came in through the back door while they were in front, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
THRIFT SHOP MISSING CASH
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports this morning that someone stole a cash bag containing approximately $200 from the Packwood Presbyterian Thrift Store on U.S. Highway 12 in Randle. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown it was taken from the counter while the clerk was helping another customer on Friday, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
AUTO THEFT
• A Pontiac Grand Am reported missing about 7:45 a.m. yesterday from the 300 block of Centralia College Boulevard in Centralia was discovered abandoned near Penny Playground in Chehalis about 11:30 a.m., according to police.
DISORDERLINESS
• Police arrested a 51-year-old homeless man for disorderly conduct after getting called just after 6 p.m. yesterday about an individual yelling and running at people on the 400 block of North Tower Avenue. Keith A. Smith was then released but less than two hours later arrested and booked into jail for trespassing after reportedly going to a location on the 2000 block of Cooks Hill Road where he had already been told not to come back, according to the Centralia Police Department.
FROM THE COURTHOUSE
• A former manager of the Packwood Inn will return to court next Thursday for arraignment, charged with second-degree extortion in connection with allegations he tampered with the business website and told the owner he’d relinquish control of the site once a check for his backpay arrived and cleared the bank. David J. Langley, 52, was charged in November 2013 in Lewis County Superior Court, following an investigation that summer, according to court documents. A warrant for his arrest was issued. Langley, whose address is shown in his court file as in Ocean Shores, was arrested on Monday and went before a judge on Tuesday afternoon. Charging documents state a deputy was called to the east end establishment after Langley left employment there, by another worker who noticed messages on the website that were similar statements Langley had made, talking bad about the owner not paying his employees on time. The site was fixed, then tampered with again, showing images of guns and the words FBI, and then finally dissolving into a blank white page, according to documents. The owner Vrajlal Nariya, said Langley was the only person with the password and access to the site, charging documents relate. Nariya showed the deputy an email from Langley on July 2, 2013 requesting backpay and stating once he received it, he would restore control of the site to the Packwood Inn, according to the documents. Langley was released from the Lewis County jail on Tuesday evening on a $10,000 signature bond. His opportunity to make his plea is scheduled for the morning on Oct. 30. Second-degree extortion has a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
FINGER POINTING LEADS TO NO TICKET
• Two motorists who nearly collided as they passed in opposite directions on the 1700 block of Centralia-Alpha Road swerved away from each other and wrecked in opposite ditches yesterday. A deputy responding to the approximately noontime incident was told by each of the two women that the other had crossed the centerline, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Both were transported to Providence Centralia Hospital Hospital with non-life threatening injuries and both the Ford Ranger and Ford Explorer sustained major damage, according to the sheriff’s office. No citation was issued.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, shoplifting, trespass, misdemeanor assault, driving with suspended license; responses for dispute, suspicious circumstances, collisions on city streets, fender bender in parking lot … and more.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter