Updated at 5:29 p.m.
POINTING GUN GETS MAN ARRESTED
• A man who pulled a gun after he was punched by his neighbor was arrested yesterday afternoon in Centralia. Deputies called to the 1900 block of Daniels Road learned of an ongoing dispute over “assorted different issues” and were told 58-year-old Michael R. Johnson walked onto his neighbor’s property and began an argument, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said it was about 3:15 p.m. and it appeared Johnson had been drinking. Brown said Johnson provoked one man by walking into him and that man punched him, prompting Johnson to draw his firearm and point it, threatening to kill the man. Brown said when another man stepped outside to see what was going on Johnson did the same to him. Johnson was arrested for first-degree assault and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office.
KICKING COP GETS MAN ARRESTED
• A 42-year-old Centralia man who reportedly kicked a police officer for no reason was booked into the Lewis County Jail yesterday for third-degree assault. Terry S. Cortez’s arrest came after contact with an officer about 6:30 p.m. at the 700 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia, according to the Centralia Police Department. The officer had been called to the area for an unspecified reason and when he walked up to Cortez, he was kicked; but was unhurt, police said.
CANDY ASSAULT
• A 28-year-old man was arrested in Centralia yesterday after he allegedly shoplifted a packet of Skittles from a store on the 600 block of South Tower Avenue and then threw them at an employee who confronted him. An officer on patrol about 9 a.m. saw Kevin B. Kempf running from the worker and detained him, according to the Centralia Police Department. Kempf was booked into the Lewis County Jail for third-degree theft and for fourth-degree assault, according to police.
BREAK-INS
• Chehalis police took a report of a burglary yesterday at a home on the 700 block of Southeast Adams Avenue. It appeared someone broke a back window to get inside. Further details were not available.
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports this morning that someone got inside a home on the 200 block of Main Street in Onalaska on Monday and rummaged through multiple rooms but nothing was immediately noticed as missing. There was no sign of forced entry, but the 20-year-old resident told a deputy it occurred sometime between 7:30 a.m. and just before 1 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office.
CAR PROWL
• Police were called yesterday about two overnight vehicle prowls at the 500 block of Northeast Washington Avenue in Chehalis.
• Someone got into a vehicle on the 500 block of Northeast Jefferson Avenue in Chehalis, rummaged through the glove box, stole an iPhone and left the door open, according to a report made to police yesterday.
ELDERLY RESIDENT TRICKED OUT OF $2,000
• An 83-year-old Chehalis-area woman lost a lot of money yesterday after she tried to do a good deed for her “grandson”, who turned out to be an impostor on the other end of her phone line. The caller asked her to buy $2,000 in pre-paid cash cards to help him make repairs after a car wreck, and even told her his voice sounded a bit different than usual because he’d injured his nose, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The soon-to-be victim went to Safeway and purchased $1,000 in cards, and then made a second trip for another $1,000 because he told her she’d bought the wrong kind, according to the sheriff’s office. It wasn’t until after she’d told him the authorization codes that the woman asked her “grandson” his wife’s name, having grown suspicious, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. He didn’t know and he hung up the phone, Brown said.
FROM THE COURTHOUSE
• The accused prolific local trafficker of pain medications sent to prison for 12 years last summer will be back in Lewis County Superior Court tomorrow morning. Forrest E. Amos claims there was a hearing in his case he didn’t attend, Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said today. Law enforcement estimated that in 2011 when Amos was aggressively dealing Oxycodone, that he was its main supplier within Lewis County, possessing and dealing thousands of pills a month; and they contended he continued to traffic drugs from prison to the outside through others. A plea deal this past summer that helped him avoid a charge of organized crime included an agreement not to appeal his convictions or sentence in any way, according to court documents. Meyer said he doesn’t know that Amos has a lawyer yet to represent him him on his motion, so he didn’t expect anything substantive to take place tomorrow.
• The Olympian reports a Centralia man who intervened during an arrest – using a bear hug to pull a deputy away from a suspect and then explaining it was his duty to protect people because he was in the Army – pleaded not guilty yesterday to third-degree assault. News reporter Amelia Dickinson writes that 35-year-old Isidro Garcia-Cisneros was released on his own personal recognizance following the Christmas Day incident at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, obstructing, shoplifting, failure to transfer vehicle title, driving with suspended license, responses for alarms, dispute, graffiti, protection order violation, misdemeanor theft, collisions on city streets and county roads … and more.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Come on people, these money scams are, or should be well known by now. They have been prolific for several years now. My mom fell for this junk the first time a couple years ago, and has received multiple calls since. The last one was someone claiming her grandson was in jail in New York. He lives in Tenino! Fortunately for my mom, she thought better of it, and called him, @ his home. I understand these older folk arnt all that savvy in modern crime technique, that being said, might I suggest, if you have an older person in your life, or any vulnerable person for that matter, take it upon yourself to have a conversation with them.