Tacoma resident Rebecca J. Coleman consults with a defense attorney in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A 53-year-old mother and grandmother was brought before a judge today in Chehalis in a case that began with a local detective’s undercover operation purchase of a stolen handgun and led to the seizure of 38 firearms, thousands of rounds of assorted ammunition and drugs in Tacoma.
Four improvised explosive devices also located at the residence drew ordinance disposal technicians consisting of members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and the Washington State Patrol, according to authorities.
Rebecca J. Coleman, 53, of Tacoma, was charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with numerous offenses related to the case.
Coleman was arrested on Tuesday, the day the search warrant was served at her home, and a judge yesterday allowed local prosecutors to hold her uncharged while the investigation continued.
According to charging documents, Lewis County sheriff’s detective Duke Adkisson learned last month from an unnamed individual that he or she could purchase guns and methamphetamine from Coleman, and he began investigating Coleman for trafficking in stolen firearms.
The relatively new local Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team issued a news release today describing how its members followed up on a tip from a Lewis County resident, and how some of the firearms Coleman allegedly sold were being transported back to Lewis County.
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Stacy Brown distributed the press release on behalf of JNET’s leaders.
Sheriff Rob Snaza in a printed statement explained why local detectives made an arrest in another jurisdiction.
“Criminals don’t have physical boundaries, they travel in and out of our county,” Snaza stated. “Even though the arrest and seizure occurred in Pierce County, we stopped the flow of criminal activity from coming into our county.”
Snaza shares overseeing JNET with Centralia Police Chief Carl Nielsen and Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer as each agency has law enforcement officers on the team. Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer’s name is also on JNET”s letterhead.
Charging documents state that sometime between Sept. 30 and this past Monday, detective Adkisson gave money to an informant to go buy one of Coleman’s guns and to tell Coleman that he or she was a convicted felon and not allowed to possess a firearm.
During the transaction, Coleman allegedly implied some of her firearms could be stolen firearms, the documents state.
The gun brought back to Adkisson did turn out to have been stolen last December.
According to JNET and the court documents, also seized from Coleman’s residence was $1,258 cash, two baggies of suspected methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, mortars, tank simulators and other items consistent with explosives.
The home is located in the south end of Tacoma at the 2400 block of 155th Street Court East.
The explosives were taken off site by the technicians to be detonated, according to Chief Brown’s summary.
Coleman’s bail was set yesterday at $150,000.
Defense attorney Joely O’Rourke told the judge Coleman has only one felony conviction – possession of a controlled substance from last year – and it was a deferred prosecution with a plan for her to withdraw her plea shortly.
Coleman was charged today with four felonies in Lewis County Superior Court.
They are: first-degree trafficking in stolen property, delivery of a firearm to an ineligible person, possession of a stolen firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm in the second-degree and possession of methamphetamine.
She qualified for a court-appointed attorney as she is currently unemployed and receives social security disability payments, according to O’Rourke.
Her arraignment is scheduled for next Thursday.
Property seized from Tacoma residence is displayed. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
@Herbff: This whole case has an odor to me. I suspected this cop team was just looking for some PR without doing any real work. Chances are one of the guys she filed protection orders against is getting back at her. I would guess it’s the one with the record.
I know her and all of this is false she was set up by the men so before you judge get to really know someone and walk in there shoes she was the most caring and giving person i know yes we all make bad choices but this was not her fault she would never had sold anything to a person that was not allowed to posess a firearm she had a concealed weapons permit
GREAT JOB JNET! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
And it’s possible that Ms. Coleman was just getting rid of the guns stored at her house by one of the men she had protection orders against. It looks like she might have been trying to get a fresh start but made a bad move.
Most look like hunting rifles with a couple of ARs and a couple of AKs. I would say that many private owners would have this many guns and it wouldn’t be that unusual. I don’t think that the property was hers. As for the undercover officer stating that he was a felon and couldn’t legally possess a gun, I don’t know if that matters. Obviously he wasn’t so she didn’t sell a gun to a felon. And her meth possession charge would have been vacated soon so I’m not sure that her being a felon in custody of a gun is that strong.
I think that there is a lot more hype in this case than substance. But perhaps the actual gun owner is complicent and should be charged, especially if he stole some of the guns or purchased stolen guns. Perhaps she can work out a testify deal for her freedom.
There was a lot going on with Ms. Coleman lately. She filed for protection orders from domestic violence against two different men in Pierce County: RICHARD JAMES KELLY on 9/5/15 and WILFORD VINDEN SORENSEN on 10/13/15.
And that’s not the first time. It looks like this woman is a long term “victim” of domestic violence.
So who bought the guns? I think that it was one of the men in her life who was more responsible for the gun business. And these guys, by either being felons, or having protection orders against them could not possess firearms legally.
I think that our Joint Narcotics team only picked up the easiest person and that they should be looking to make arrests of the real bad guys behind this.
The problem is to many welfare rats. When the good people work 40-60 hrs a week so the scum bags can sit around and do dope,casino,crime,spitting out more lil welfare rats, so we can pay for them also!! Drug test all welfare trash . And only giveaway welfare for the first rat, why is it not a crime to push someone else’s responsibilities on my family ? And no welfare for illegal aliens or there 3-5 rats .. We really need to fix this crap!! What happens when the good people get sick and tired of being taken advantage of.. They take there money and jobs elsewhere!!
Another druggie criminal on the government tit.
Cut off ALL funding (medical,ebt,ect) for them once convicted of a felony until their time passes. (5 years class C, 10 years class B, 20 years class A)
They don’t deserve any help!
You can sit and judge all day long. The truth is you don’t know the whole story, or her situation. Do you think that maybe she was set up? The news always makes things bigger than they are. You are saying she looks “used?” why don’t you go sit in jail and see how you look after a couple days. Until you walk in her shoes you have no idea.
you guys don’t even know the whole storie so before you judge someone get the whole fakes first the news isn’t always right they don’t know the whole story that’s why their still looking into it this women is a good person she is a loving mom and grandma
Theres always someone saying you dont know this person. Yeah we dont know her but we know she got caught with dirty guns and meth. Why dont you explain Kitty what we need to know? I mean look at her shes well used.
I agree with you Howdy, I live in an area where half the folks 10 or 15 years younger then me are on SSD. The only career I can see they have is conning some some doctor into give them drugs which they sell to the rest of the bums. The rest of the bums make a living stealing what ever they can find that is not nailed down. Must be nice. I’m almost 65 and still work a 40 hour week. They say there is no work but I see help wanted signs all he time. Kitty we do not have to know her , we pay our tax’s so people like her can conduct their business’s and her crimes are public record ,so, you a tweeker too????????????
You guys don’t now her so keep you comments to your self
Way to go Less Conty Sheriffs Dept. JNET!!
Epic bust.
Maybe someone should investigate why she is on SSD at 53 yrs old…. I am older than her and I need to work every damn day…..