A corrections officer prepares to take Nelson R. Berquist back down to the Lewis County Jail, even though the prosecutor recommended release.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A 77-year-old resident of a Centralia retirement home questioned by police about a small baggie of methamphetamine he told them he had in his room, said he puts it in his coffee in the morning.
Nelson R. Berquist was arrested after the confession he gave at Cooks Hill Manor and then booked into the Lewis County Jail.
The Centralia man who lives on social security was brought to court in a wheelchair yesterday, charged with two felonies.
Lewis County Prosecutor Paul Masiello was prepared to allow Berquist to be released pending trial on a $10,000 signature bond, saying he had no real criminal history. Masiello called it sort of an unusual case.
Temporary defense attorney Joely O’Rourke told the judge she’d never before recommended her client stay in custody, but the assisted living facility had informed her that due to state regulations, they would not allow him back.
“I certainly don’t want to turn him out on the street,” O’Rourke said. “But he’s diabetic, he can barely walk and he needs his medications.”
According to charging documents filed yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court, Centralia police were called to the 2000 block of Cooks Hill Road on Monday for a report a resident was delivering meth to other residents.
Detectives spoke to a woman, not identified as to whether she was a resident or an employee, who told them Berquist met her in a common area, gave her the drug and told her to give it to her son.
They interviewed Berquist, told them why they were there and advised him of his Miranda warnings.
“Berquist admitted to giving Fletcher methamphetamine and he had more in his room,” the documents relate.
Police obtained a search warrant and found a small baggie in a wicker basket.
He said he gave half to her and that was the other half, according to the court documents.
Berquist told the detective he puts meth in his morning coffee, a detective who noted the arrestee seemed to be under the influence of the drug.
The senior citizen is charged with one count of delivery, an offense with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and one count of possession, which could bring as much as five years of incarceration if he were convicted.
Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt queried the two lawyers yesterday afternoon.
“If he leaves the jail, where does he go?” Hunt asked.
O’Rourke advised the judge she’d also spoken to her client’s son, and her client couldn’t stay there either.
“What about adult protective services? Cascade Mental Health?” Hunt said. “There’s got to be some resource.”
The seeming predicament ended with Hunt reluctantly signing a no-bail hold – meaning a possible second night in lockup – and the lawyers agreeing to make some phone calls together.
Judge Hunt advised them as soon as they found someone to take the defendant, they could come back before him so he could set bail.
O’Rourke said later last night, she’d found there was a social worker – whether from the nursing home or the Department of Social and Health Services, she didn’t know – who planned to hold a debriefing about Berquist today.
Berquist was found to qualify for a court-appointed lawyer and his arraignment was scheduled for a week from tomorrow.
He was released today from the Lewis County Jail, according to its online roster.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
The meth is just as safe as the Fluoride in the water supply. They both have skull and bones on the package warning.
None of you that have posted even know this Nelson person. He knew exactly what he had and he went out and bought it himself. No one “gave” it to him or brought it to him. He rides the bus or uses his power chair to get downtown and meet whoever he bought it from. He is not some sweet old man with dementia. He is not out on the street, homeless – DSHS has him in a safe place with help. The person he gave it to did not ask for it and neither did her kid.
To hell with this guy!!! Push his ass in the Chehalis river, sink or swim ,between him and god !! Liberal bull- shit is not our problem, if you’re trash , out with the garbage!!
And Teresa G. your right asking who is bringing that poison in there to begin with when their already being given enough legal poison to do them in.
Putting a 77 year old man in a wheel chair out on the streets with no where to go sounds very morally wrong to me…I don’t care if he broke the law or not…nobody in that nursing home was forced to take the drugs this elderly man had they took them from him by their own choice. What he did was legally wrong and he is guilty of making some poor choices but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to live..before some of you here start thinking you have the right to judge others for their mistakes you best be sure that you yourself are a perfect person that has never been guilty of ever making a mistake or poor choices…last I heard Jesus was the only perfect person and it was his job to do any judging not yours. Maybe you folks need to get off your high horses in thinking you are any less flawed than the rest of us and just a human being that makes mistakes. The job of who has the right to live or die is already filled by someone that’s a lot smarter than all of us put together and has a lot more compassion. Judge not unless thy be judged. Most legal drugs if not all legal drugs that might make a person feel better at the time are actually attacking and destroying other Vidal organs in your body at the same time and destroying your health further that will lead to your death. Our government makes the choice for us what drugs are going to be legal and which ones aren’t and those decisions aren’t made from concern for our well being either it’s based on whatever the big pharmaceuticals companies want. You want to talk about drug pushers DHS is the worst. Any child that has been abused or is a troubled child and acts out is always put on Ritalin or a similar drug which is Meth but Meth has the opposite effect on children and knocks them out so that they stop acting out. It’s a lot easier and whole lot less work to drug the child than to deal with what’s causing the problem to begin with. So by masking the problem instead of dealing with what’s causing it the child as he grows up is actually getting sicker and sicker and when they do grow up are dependent on drugs and become little time bombs from suppressing their anger that sooner or later has to come out no matter how deep their feeling have been buried by the drugs their taking so when it does it comes out it comes out in very violent out of control outbursts and god help anyone that has the misfortune of being around them when it does happens. When is the last time you have ever heard of our government doing anything that really was done for our benefit and not theirs.
He IS the dealer!
Club him in the head & be done!
Where, oh where, is this 77 year old man that lives in assisted living, getting baggie of meth?!I would think this should be the question.Good Lord, someone is bringing this poison into the facility.This old man probably knows nothing about it except that it makes him feel different by putting it in his coffee.He obviously has no idea as to the trouble he is causing.For crying out loud, he is offering it to strangers and telling them that their family member will feel better.Give the 77 year old the benefit of the doubt and GO AFTER THE REAL CULPRIT, THE DEALER!
Oh, and for my method of execution I choose a 6# falling axe. It is cheap and will continue to work unlike the liberal leeches.
You make your own destiny in life.
I was raised by a single mother who made minimum wage in the 70’s and raised me WITHOUT gubment assistance, owned a home and worked her way up to a very nice quality of life and had a strong foothold in real estate at the time of her passing at 46.
I have worked since I was 13 and started my first company at 19 and within four years was grossing over 7 figures per year.
The point is, your choices determine your outcome in life.
If you want to peddle drugs then that is your choice but I do not feel a bit sorry for your dirt bag life.
I for one am glad that got this junkie tweaked TRASH behind bars! It’s people like this that are killing out children! He probably spent his nights stealing used band aids and half rolled up tubes of toothpaste from the garbage cans of other residents. Execution is the only punishment worthy for scum like this! Think of the poor federal government too! There are probably several residents there who don’t cheat the bug drug companies and just have a CNA bring them Desoxyn prescribed by a doctor!
Its liberal bleeding hearts like this douche ,that have destroyed this country with all there free shit , my parents we’re poor as shit!! Never took a penny of welfare, I started working fulltime at 17 married at 18 still married at 50 with a lot of hard work I’ve over come alot . Not like liberals who just want it for free . get off your asses and earn it , and you better bet your broke ass I’ll support TRUMP
Guess I shouldn’t be surprised by comments like those from XDs, but I am (PS – let me guess, XDs, voting for Hitle…er, Trump next year?).
What IS society? Is it ONLY a place for those of a certain IQ, age, ability and race? Maybe only those who share all of your opinions, XDs? If so, I suggest you find an island for “your kind” and see how you do.
We are not “born equal” and that is where the problem begins. When people like XDs forget to express gratitude for all they DIDN’T do to get privilege – didn’t choose their race, didn’t choose their lack of disability. didn’t choose the century in which they are born, didn’t choose their family… ALL of which contributed more toward privilege than any “doing” on his or her part. Not only are we not born equal, both good and bad luck can come in streaks and some folks gather a lot of luck of either type that impacts them lifelong.
Do our conscious actions have anything to do with who we are, where we live and how we turn out? Very damned little. Which means we really are no better than those we want to throw away – we just want to think so. Because if I believe I am better than an addict, a person with a disability, an elderly person, a person of color or who believes in a different deity than me – I can make them “less than human” and justify throwing them away.
I dare you, XDs, to come out publicly and state that you are personally willing to kill each and every one of the humans YOU believe are not society’s problem – because that is the only way anyone gets out of our society and the only way they “are not society’s problem”. Any method you choose. Go ahead. Show your true colors. And if you can’t do that – then start working on solutions and stop with the throw them away mind set. Other than death, there is no “away” that doesn’t impact society.
Where in the story does it say what his political affiliation is? Otherwise I tend to agree with you more than those who are actually saying they have no problem with an old man distributing meth at an assisted living facility. My mom is in such a place and if I learned one of the residents was doing what this guy was doing at Cooks Hill Manor, the cops would be the least of his or her worries.
FK Him hit the nail on the head.
I agree 100%!
Who the fk gives two shits about a 77 year old piece of shit drug addicted scum bag ? , Lewis co seems to be the place that the welfare trash have made there capital, put this old scum bag in a raft and push his ass out to sea, the fish need food to. Stop all forms of welfare for 10 years and maybe the lazy dip shits will learn to fix there own problems ,not push them on the good hard working people in this country. And why are most trash people DEMOCRATS,can anyone answer this??
“XD”? I had assumed that was a reference to “smart” media.
Once again, the old adage is proven correct.
I’d like to know who’s been bringing him the drugs.
If you haven’t figured it out in 77 years that is your problem not societies problem.
Let the geezer have his meth in his coffee for god’s sake. And perhaps it would be good if they let all of the inmates in the nursing home have a little meth, cocaine, or other substances in their coffee if they desire it.
I smuggled a half gallon of vodka into the nursing home for my friend when she was in there. Her and her roommate had a nice happy hour every day at 4PM. Her roommate’s daughter wasn’t happy because it turns out her mom was an alcoholic who had been on the wagon for years – but oh well – they don’t have much more time left.
These nursing homes zone out half of these people with a handful of pharmaceuticals every day anyway. How much worse can a little meth in the coffee be?
If he couldn’t make bail he would have stayed in jail anyway. This is an interesting story / I hope someone does a more in depth report about this man.
he can’t go back to the Assisted Living center, because he posessed the drug, (putting it in his coffee???? smh) and giving it to people, so basically dealing – his own family says he can’t live with them …true, it’s not the jail’s responsibility to house him, but there’s not a lot of options for the guy…77 years old, and using meth – geez…
Pay attention kids. This is what happens when you stick your nose in where it doesn’t belong. Stay out of things that are none-of-your-business and you won’t end up like these corrupt drug-warrior fools wondering [if we destroy him] “where does he go?” He dies you idiots!
Everyone is aware that this two-felony “crime” is actually not criminal at all; but a medical issue that should be addressed by Nelson R. Berquist, and his physician. The fraudulent US war on some drugs has more than worn out it’s welcome in Lewis county, and throughout the world. The people will no longer permit the drug-war fraud to continue its unchecked reign of corruption, terror, and destruction. Harm reduction is what’s needed. Destroying the village to save it is a very bad idea.
The judge was up against it. Just recently, the Centralia Municipal Court judge was severely criticized for releasing a man who was arguably not able to care for himself. The internet sheeple wanted the judge’s head on a plate for releasing the guy. I’ll bet that that case was in this judge’s mind as he made his decision.
This sad but it’s not the jails responsibility to house him.
Some of this stuff is stranger than anything you’ll see on TV!