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Updated at 6:32 p.m.
CHARGES FILED RE: MARIJUANA PLANTS DISCOVERED AFTER HOUSE FIRE
• A 48-year-old man who vanished after reportedly agreeing to work with law enforcement when a Salkum-area house fire revealed an indoor marijuana growing operation on Christmas Eve day was booked into the Lewis County Jail yesterday on a $10,000 arrest warrant.
Dec. 24, 2016
Timothy A. Neal lives in Oregon, his temporary defense attorney told a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court. Charges filed against Neal for manufacture of marijuana late last month indicate that Neal spoke with a sheriff’s deputy after firefighters passed along information about what they saw inside after extinguishing the blaze on the 200 block of Fuller Road. The large, old two-story farmhouse was destroyed by the fire. Neal allegedly said he stayed there and tended the plants for his landlord, while the landlord was out of town, according to charging documents. The landlord has been summonsed to appear also in Lewis County Superior Court. Judge Andrew Toynbee today agreed Neal could be released from jail pending trial on an unsecured $10,000 bond.
THEFT
• Centralia police were called to the 1100 block of South Scheuber Road at 3:20 p.m. yesterday regarding the theft of two flags and a milk jug.
INVESTIGATION
• Centralia police were called about 12:15 p.m. yesterday to take a report of inappropriate touching involving a child.
DOMESTIC INCIDENT
• A 24-year-old man was arrested yesterday because he allegedly went into the residence where his wife and their three children live in Winlock very early on Tuesday morning where he is prohibited from going because of a protection order. Rylon D. Kurtzbein allegedly had alcohol on his breath when he grabbed his wife by her arms and face, before she slapped him and told him to leave, according to charging papers. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail and then charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with residential burglary and violation of a court order. His bail was set at $20,000.
SEXUAL ABUSE
• A 30-year-old former rural Centralia resident was arrested yesterday following an investigation by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office in which he was accused of twice late last year of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl. Frank I. Flores was charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with second-degree rape of a child and his bail was set at $50,000.
AND MORE
• And, as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor assault, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, robbery, dispute, civil issue, shoplifting, suicidal person, vehicle collision, suspicious circumstances … and more among 150 calls for local law enforcement and / or fire-emergency medical services in the 24-hour period ending about 7 a.m. today.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter