Phillip A. Pinotti, 22, of Adna, is locked up again, now on drug charges.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The arrest on drug charges last night of 22-year-old Phillip A. Pinotti stem from a “reliable and credible source” who purchased heroin from Pinotti on an unspecified recent day while police secretly observed and also from an incident police recently told prosecutors about that occurred back in August, according to court documents.
Pinotti was free on bail, but prepared to plead guilty next week for the events of Dec. 16 when he fled as he was being arrested on a misdemeanor warrant, and was shot at by a Centralia Municipal Court security officer.
Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt this afternoon ordered the Adna resident held on $75,000 bail on each of the two new separate cases.
He was charged today for the August incident with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.
According to charging documents, Centralia police had him and another man under surveillance as they went to Longview to purchase heroin, and subsequently impounded the vehicle and found heroin, smoking devices and a digital scale. The documents make no mention of either man getting arrested.
The documents do note law enforcement declined to allow Pinotti to work for them in consideration of potential charges.
Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer told Judge Hunt police sent the case to his office on Dec. 28.
Pinotti was also charged with possession of heroin and delivery of heroin, for an alleged deal that took place on an unspecified date while Pinotti was under police surveillance. The documents state only that it occurred sometime between Dec. 20 and Jan. 8.
Yesterday, he was stopped and arrested in his parent’s car and reportedly confessed he had just bought some heroin in Centralia, delivered it to a friend and pinched off a chunk for himself, charging documents state.
A brief summary of the arrest from Centralia Police Department Sgt. Jim Shannon indicates the arrest was associated with the 1500 block of South Gold Street in Centralia.
In the car, police also found a digital scale, two heroin injection kits and a police scanner, with the capability of listening to Centralia police, according to the court documents.
Defense attorney Joely O’Rourke this afternoon asked for $25,000 total in bail, noting the young man lives with his parents and has only one misdemeanor on his record, from 2009.
In asking for high bail, Prosecutor Meyer noted one issue came before the escape attempt but the other came afterward.
“After being released on bail, he continued to commit crimes,” Meyer said. “In fact, was found with heroin in his possession; I would say there are significant drug abuse issues.”
Pinotti is scheduled for arraignment next Thursday.
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For background, read “Charge of assault that prompted officer to shoot, dropped for Adna resident” from Thursday January 8, 2015, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
T Orr: I think getting drug dealers to turn on each other is a great thing. It saves the entire justice system a lot of leg work. Why should the cops have to spend countless hours putting people under surveillance if another dealer is willing to rat them out. As long as it is the info is backed up with legit EVIDENCE I think it’s a good thing.
These people are a scourge on our society. They break into our homes and cars. They rob our stores. They rape our wives and kids. They run up the cost of our healthcare. Why do you even care if they employ informants as long as the evidence supports the information they retrieve? It’s not like an informant told them this clown was doing this, they stopped him and found nothing. Get a grip on reality here, pal.
Have you been ensnared yourself by one of your “friends”? Maybe you have a natural bias in this situation. Are you a drug dealer?
OnyGirl, you’re defending the use of junkie snitches in the court room. Perhaps if you spent less time hating on an honest justice system you could see that using informants addicted to heroin does nothing to build confidence, but in fact allows the courts to make convictions without the prosecutor doing any real work. I also think that if the only way you can defend junkie snitches in courtrooms is to make accusations against anybody willing to criticize such behavior, you are fighting a losing battle.
Maybe T Orr is such a hater because he sells to Pinotti and is afraid of being ratted on? Just a thought…
I think the bottom line is: don’t take the word of a junkie as truth.
You don’t have to be a junkie to have a problem with the snitch system in Lewis County.
You can be a accused of something with absolutely no evidence and the prosecutor, like hunt, will pick up some junkie off the street and offer them a deal in exchange for false testimony against you.
Many junkies would jump at the chance to provide false information to a prosecutor regardless if the person was guilty or not or if the information they gave was true or not.
I just hope that you don’t make a mistake in life and get charged with ZERO evidence but the false testimony of a junkie heroin addict. Nobody should have to go through that.
Bottom line is don’t be a junkie and you don’t have to worry about these problems!
T Orr-just curious but does the shoe fit
Be careful who you sell to Tommy.
I’m talking about Hunt using heroin addicted snitches as a prosecutor to make his cases and is now, as a judge, continuing the tradition.
Using the testimony of heroin addicted criminals and snitches is the worst kind of evidence you could ever possibly present in court, but it happens routinely in Lewis County because people like Hunt have literally made a career out of it.
“Hunt has made a career of getting convictions based on NOTHING but the heresay testimoney of heroin addicts.”
You do realize that Judge Hunt has not ever served in any Jury in his own courtroom, nor has he ever ever prosecuted a case while a Judge?
I don’t believe for a second that the prosecutor’s office would turn down a junkie snitch for court testimony.
The prosecutor’s office just wants people to THINK he’s a snitch so that Pinotti will be attacked on the streets.
That is the most underhanded thing cops can do. In New York, some cops labeled a gang member as a snitch, and the only thing the snitch could do to prove he wasn’t a rat was to kill the cops that branded him.
I’m not saying that’s what should happen in this case, but the prosecutor’s office should be aware that falsely putting a snitch jacket on someone can get people killed.
The use of snitches to get convictions is pathetic and speaks to the judicial emptiness that is Hunt’s courtroom.
Hunt has made a career of getting convictions based on NOTHING but the heresay testimoney of heroin addicts. Hunt needs heroin addicts to do his job for him. Without junkie addicts turning into snitches, the LC court system would get ZERO convictions.
If you have to rely wholeheartedly on heroin addicts to get conviction, then you shouldn’t be prosecutor and shame on Hunt for allowing such nonsense.
Oh and I’m sure all his junkie friends will love to see that he tried to become an informant to get out of his charges.
The little junkie needs to see 24 months behind bars as someone’s bitch. If being a wiener holster for his cell mate doesn’t discourage his drug use and criminal lifestyle then he is a lost cause.