Sebastian Haller waits as his lawyer shuffles through documents after his sentencing in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A drug case from last spring in which Centralia police arrested two brothers and their mother at their home on the 1000 block of Yakima Street is over.
Prosecutors dropped charges against 59-year-old Kathy Challender.
Arthur T. Haller-Heilman, 32, took a deal and got 20 months, and should be getting out around September.
Sebastian Haller, 36, went to trial and lost.
He was sentenced yesterday to 16 years in prison.
Defense attorney Sam Groberg appealed to the judge for less time.
“He’s looking at a minimum of seven years, which is a real long time,” Groberg said. “Even though he does have a history, he’s still a relatively young man.”
Lewis County Prosecutor Paul Masiello noted Haller had an offender score of 19 – from previous convictions – meaning he was subject to a longer term.
“I’m sure the court recalls Mr. Haller picked up these charges while waiting for the last case,” Masiello said.
A jury in Lewis County Superior Court two weeks ago found Haller guilty of two counts of delivery of heroin, one count of possession with intent to deliver heroin, possession of methamphetamine, possession of methadone, possession of oxycodone and three counts of witness tampering.
Centralia police raided the home the morning of May 8, finding only small amounts of narcotics. Centralia’s then Anti-Crime Team Sgt. Jim Shannon said their primary suspect was in the bathroom flushing the toilet.
The action was part of an undertaking that began two months earlier targeting street-level and mid-level heroin suppliers because of the increase in the number of heroin and opiate related deaths over the previous year in Lewis and southern Thurston counties, according to police.
The city reviewed the Yakima Street case to determine if the property might be subject to seizure and forfeiture as a drug nuisance, according to Shannon.
Masiello and Groberg said yesterday that Haller’s grandparents owned the house, and they understood the couple was cooperating with the city in a deal to sell the property and share the proceeds with the city.
Haller expressed his surprise when Judge Lawler handed down the sentence.
“For getting high?” he blurted out. “You’re talking about 16 years for getting high?”
Lawler said no, it was more than that, and repeated the numerous offenses the jury found him guilty of.
The two lawyers disagreed about how the so-called school zone enhancement should apply. Groberg said he understood two mandatory years consecutive to the rest of the sentence.
Masiello said even though the issue is being questioned on appeals, his office felt the law provided for applying three of the enhancements, separately, meaning an extra six years.
Lawler sided with Masiello.
The judge imposed numerous legal financial obligations, and ordered Haller to pay them at a rate of $25 each month.
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For background, read “Drug officer: Another raid, but battling heroin deaths will take more than police” from Friday May 9, 2014, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
This guy is not some innocent addict or dealer for that matter! He is a pos and am glad he got 16 years!!! He has ruined multiple lives and killed at least one more than likely more!!! I knew him personally. He’s disgusting.
Welcome to America land of extortion.
Judge Lawler has always done this bullshit, may he rot in hell for all he has done
Messed up! Child molesters get less time and they do a lifetime of harm to the victims.
He’s a dealer. Perhaps he’s a clean dealer as dealers go, but his business is killing other people’s souls and bodies for personal gain. Also, he’s over 30, not a feasible candidate for rehab as a younger addict might be. Excuses in his behalf sound too much we all used to say in the ’50s when a teenage boy got drunk, went driving, and slaughtered a family on the highway: “Well, boys will be boys.” Save rehab for non-dealers. Even among them it doesn’t take most of the time.
This guy has 19 points! Clearly he has a history of felonious crime. Heroin is killing many and this guy was a dealer. I agree with rehabilitation for addicts but when you feed other addicts and possibly cause a death from a over dose, the pitty flag goes away.
Only in Lewis County would people feel sorry for this scum.
It’s clear that this dude has had lots of time in prison and jail to straighten out. Maybe he likes the prison food or showers.
Great job CPD and the prosecutor.
AVoiceofReason – you are right on target.
If part of the definition of the disease of addiction is the inability to control drug use, then why do court behave like wounded family members who believed in the promises and are devastated by relapse?
The courts, who have available to them the scientific information regarding the nature of the disease, should be the ones able to rise above their emotions and consider what actions might actually interrupt the use, increase the likelihood of recovery or reduce harm to the community (which includes financial harm of the cost of prison).
Long term treatment – sometimes multiple instances of it – can be as cost effective to the community as prison, it still takes the person OUT of the community like prison and has the added benefit of returning some percentage of offenders back to the state of responsible tax payers instead of well-trained criminals.
Some studies show that a large number of addicts are likely to develop the addiction based on differences in the brain PRIOR to first use. Most people experiment with drugs and alcohol, so this person probably didn’t do anything different from his peers. He didn’t “Choose” this road at all. His use – that looked just like the use of his peers – developed differently because of the way his brain is, not because of the way his character is.
As a community, we should have better processes in place and resources more widely available for those with drug addiction. If ‘community cared more about community’, and there were more resources spent on programs that truly focused on rehabilitating addicts, then quite possibly we might not have so many of our youth out there selling drugs as a way to support their own habit. There needs to be a larger effort given to prevention tatics, followed by an even larger effort into programs that rehabilitate the addict. Throwing the addict in a cement hole for 16 years doesn’t address the problem.
Priors or no priors, 16 years is far too long to give someone in such circumstances…particularly when it’s a non-violent crime. We have sexual predators doing less time than this man was given. Sending this man to prison for 16 years hasn’t solved a thing. And I feel genuine pity for anyone that thinks otherwise.
Typical…”16 years for getting high”? No taking responsibility for one’s own actions.
This blows me away! I went to school with this guy, he was nice, super funny and liked by most. 16yrs seems like too much time for a non violent offense. Too bad he went down this road, so sad.