Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Police are still looking for the Green Hill School inmate who apparently slipped away through a hole in the fence on Sunday night.

Dominic Adams began his time at the state run juvenile detention facility at age 15 for burglary, theft and assault convictions in Benton County, according to authorities.

Chehalis police said they suspect somebody in an older red car cut a hole in the fence and picked him up.

Chehalis Deputy Chief Randy Kaut said among the first steps were to learn where Adams had friends and family, and police subsequently found Adams’ previous home was in Kennewick, but he also had some addresses in California.

Now 19, Adams was finishing serving his juvenile sentence at Green Hill and next March was to be shipped off to adult prison for events that occurred in 2013.

He has an adult sentence of almost nine years waiting for him, according to Chris Wright, a spokesperson for the state Department of Social and Health Services.

Green Hill School in Chehalis is a secure facility for older juvenile boys incarcerated for felonies and operated by the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration, under DSHS. It currently houses 173 inmate-students, according to Wright.

Almost two years ago during Adams’ stay at a minimum security community reentry program in Ellensburg, he and another kid beat up a staff member pretty bad, Wright said.

Adams was charged and convicted as an adult for the incident, according to Wright. The (Ellensburg) Daily Record reported in September 2013 that the two 17-year-olds were accused of jumping a staff member, tying him up, taking his keys and escaping.

Chehalis police today said detectives are continuing to check addresses and follow up in their attempt to find Adams.

He is described as 5-feet 9-inches tall and weighing 160 pounds with brown eyes and black hair.

A razor-wire topped fence surrounds the compound at the Southeast Intersection of Interstate 5 and 13th Street.

Both of the last two escapes have been through, not over, the fence.

Chehalis police were called at 9:01 p.m. on Sunday and told Adams ran off from a maintenance detail; and that staff subsequently located the breach in the fence. A staff member had seen an older red car in the area, honking its horn and flashing its lights, according to police.

Green Hill Superintendent Marybeth Queral had a department spokesperson return her calls to respond to inquiries about the incident. Spokesperson Wright also issued a news release that indicated the escape occurred at about 8:30 p.m.

Wright stated that Green Hill staff immediately notified the Chehalis Police Department.

Kaut said he was trying to find out if indeed, and then why, there may have been a delay in contacting police.
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“Green Hill inmate at large after fleeing through hole in fence” from Monday May 4, 2015, here

Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter

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