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BURGLARY
• Centralia police were called to the 700 block of North Tower Avenue about 4:15 p.m. yesterday when an individual reported that sometime during the night someone entered their shed and stole a brief case.
STOLEN VEHICLE
• A front-end loader that disappeared from the 1700 block of Industrial Drive in Centralia early last month turned up yesterday in the Curtis area, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies following up on a tip went to where the machine was believed to have been hidden on some timberland near the 600 block of Wildwood Road and found their suspect’s vehicle parked there instead, according to the sheriff’s office. The piece of equipment, previously described as a 24,000 pound Komatsu, was later located in the same general area, according to sheriff’s Chief Deputy Dusty Breen. Its key was found on the suspect’s person, when he was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant, Breen said. James S. Erion, 39, of Curtis, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree possession of stolen property, according to the sherif’s office.
• When Chehalis police were called about 3:35 p.m. yesterday about a person trying to open the door of a vehicle in a parking lot at the 2500 block of Northeast Kresky Avenue, an officer found the person was gone but there was a dog inside the van, which had been reported stolen in Centralia. The dog was taken by animal control and later the canine’s 60-year-old owner was located, according to the Chehalis Police Department. It’s not clear what happened next as the written report was not completed this morning, a department spokesperson said.
BAD BILL
• Centralia police arrested a 62-year-old Chehalis resident about 1:30 p.m. yesterday for allegedly attempting to pass a counterfeit $100 bill in a case associated with the 1400 block of South Tower Avenue. The case is being referred to prosecutors for charging, according to the Centralia Police Department.
DRUGS
• A Chehalis police officer reportedly observed juveniles consuming green vegetable material at the 200 block of Southwest 13th Street at about noon yesterday. A case for a 17-year-old girl was referred to prosecutors for possession of marijuana, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
• A 30-year-old Rochester woman was arrested about 10:10 a.m. yesterday at the 1800 block of Cooks Hill Road for possession of heroin. Ashley N. Looper was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.
ON THE ROAD, OFF THE ROAD
• Nobody was injured but a passenger vehicle went up in smoke late yesterday afternoon along southbound Interstate 5 just north of milepost 79 in Chehalis. Firefighters called at 5:23 p.m. found fire in the engine compartment and flames spreading to the passenger area, according to Riverside Fire Authority. They extinguished the blaze, according to the fire department.
AND MORE
• And, as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants; responses for alarm, dispute, civil issue, misdemeanor theft, vehicle collision, sexual misconduct, suspicious circumstances, disorderly person … and more among 135 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