By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Phillip A. Pinotti and Zachary J. Maurer have both pleaded not guilty to their drug charge filed earlier this month in connection with an alleged incident last summer.
Pinotti, 22, of Adna, has been in and out of jail and courtrooms since his high profile escape from an attempted misdemeanor arrest at Centralia Municipal Court in December that drew gunfire from an officer.
One of the allegations in that case is when he left his car with two friends, before going into hiding, he grabbed a backpack and another bag, saying he didn’t want to leave his drugs in the car.
While free on bail, he allegedly sold heroin to a person working with police and was charged on Jan. 9 with delivery of a controlled substance, and possession of the same.
Prosecutors the same day also filed charges against he and Maurer of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver based on an incident in August with Centralia police.
According to charging documents, Centralia police had him and Maurer under surveillance as they went to Longview to purchase heroin, and subsequently impounded the vehicle and found heroin, a digital scale and smoking devices. The documents make no mention of either man getting arrested.
Pinotti went before a Lewis County Superior Court judge the afternoon of Jan. 9 when his bail was set at $75,000 bail on each of the two separate drug cases. Maurer was arrested that day, and on the following Monday a judge set his bail at $50,000.
Maurer, 25, has a Centralia address.
Their August contact with police began with a tip from someone described as a reliable source that Maurer would be traveling to Cowlitz County to purchase heroin to sell in Lewis County and Pinotti would be traveling with him, according to charging documents.
Charging documents go on to say that police surveillance was underway when Maurer exchanged someone’s Volkswagen Jetta for a black BMW belonging to Pinotti’s girlfriend. They go on to state that when the BMW returned to Lewis County and pulled into a gas station, the two were contacted by police.
After Centralia police dog Kayo “alerted” to the presence of a suspected controlled substance in the car, and while police waited for a tow truck to impound the car, Pinotti and Maurer were seen conversing, and Pinotti reportedly approached and officer and said he would “take the fall,” charging documents state.
Neither were under arrest and they left, the documents state, without elaborating as to why they were let go.
But a search of the car’s glove box, according to the allegations, turned up numerous items including a canvas bag bearing the name Clarity HD, and inside of it was a working scale, two smoking devices and a rubber container with brown tar.
Also found in the glove box were two “balls” of heroin strewn freely and two more small balls in foil inside an empty pack of Marlboro cigarettes.
The documents state that Maurer is the only one of the two who had cigarettes during the stop and they were the same type, and that he possessed a Clarity speaker that went with the canvas bag.
The amount of heroin seized isn’t mentioned in the documents, only that Pinotti had estimated to an officer that a quarter ounce was purchased, with a $400 wholesale or a $700 street value.
Police also seized cell phones and a moderate amount of cash from each man, according to the documents.
In appealing for a lesser bail for Maurer, defense attorney Joely O’Rourke noted to the judge that while he had a bit of criminal history, his warrant history was very minimal.
Maurer’s trial is scheduled for the week of March 9. Pinotti is scheduled to be back in court on Thursday to set his trial date.
Both remain in the Lewis County Jail.
•••
For background, read :
• “Prosecutor: Pinotti caught with heroin this summer, and again recently” from Friday January 9, 2015, here
• “Sentence: Six days in jail for escape that led to gunfire in Centralia” from Wednesday January 14, 2015, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
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