Lewis County Sirens.com

Centralia woman April Kelley is allowed to leave the courtroom free on her personal recognizance after pleading guilty to first-degree theft.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The now-former social services manager for Lewis County acknowledged today she stole more than $100,000 from a bank account she was responsible for as treasurer.

April K. Kelley, 35, was arrested and charged in September after an investigation conducted by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The Centralia woman has remained out of jail on $20,000 bail.

She went before a judge today in Lewis County Superior Court, with more than a dozen supporters seated in the benches behind her.

Kelley pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree theft, committed over a less than four-year period ending in the spring of 2014. Six counts of forgery were dropped in a plea agreement struck with the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.

Kelley worked at the Lewis County Department of Public Health & Social Services, and in that capacity, served as treasurer for the Association of County Human Services. The money was discovered missing when a new treasurer took over.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge Andrew Toybnee asked Kelley if she understood the elements of the crime, the maximum penalty, if she had any questions and pointed out a box of kleenex as she sniffled.

“Do you understand what the prosecutor will be recommending?” Toynbee asked. “Yes,” Kelley responded.

Each of the counts carries aggravating factors with Kelley admitting to committing a major economic offense and using her position of trust and fiduciary responsibility to carry out the crimes.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said he plans to ask for a 10 year sentence.

She was allowed to leave court today, on her personal recognizance and return on Feb. 8 for that hearing. Meyer said he will be asking that day she be taken directly into custody.

The prosecutor has tallied up a bit more than $196,000 in restitution that Kelley will be responsible for. About $28,000 of that is for an audit fee and $5,000 for expert accountant fees.

At one point the defendant realized the association didn’t have enough funds to cover amounts due and got money from a family member to prevent detection of the losses, according to Meyer. The approximately $49,000 she deposited will reduce the restitution amount, he said.

Defense attorney Shane O’Rourke said he wasn’t prepared to speak about how much time he will recommend for his client, as he wants the judge to hear it from him first.

However, the standard sentencing range for the offense is 22 to 29 months in prison, he said. And under the law, an option for a first time offender is zero to 90 days in jail, he said.
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For background, read “News brief: Former treasurer set to plead guilty in theft case” from Thursday January 12, 2017, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Attorneys told a judge today the trial for the Centralia woman charged with second-degree murder in the death of her husband should be pushed off into the future.

Janet L. Anderson

Janet L. Anderson, 39, has been held in the Lewis County Jail since she was arrested last month. Forty-one-year-old Ty Anderson’s body was located in their bedroom wrapped in a tarp, with a bullet hole in the back of his neck and another in his lower back, prosecutors have said.

She was charged in Lewis County Superior Court on Dec. 19 and a trial date was set for the week of Feb. 13.

Centralia defense attorney Shane O’Rourke today requested and was granted the postponement, until the week of May 8.

O’Rourke said he could tell early on based on the complexities the real trial date would be further down the road. But it’s standard practice at arraignments to put it on the court schedule within the required amount of time, he said.

“I gauged this one at six to nine months in terms of total time frame,” he said today.

Janet Anderson turned herself in to police the morning of Dec. 17, said she and her husband had been arguing at their home off of West Oakview Avenue and he grabbed his gun and pointed it at her. Prosecutors have said the shooting could have occurred as long as 12 hours earlier.

She has pleaded not guilty and is being held on $1 million bail.
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For background, read “Centralia wife pleads not guilty to murder” from Friday December 23, 2016, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – An 18-year-old woman went before a judge today in Lewis County Superior Court accused of lying when she reported to a deputy that a 16-year-old boy tried to rape her.

Sierah L. Daniels is charged with malicious prosecution, a felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Blye told the judge Daniels has no prior criminal history and recommended she be allowed release pending trial on a $5,000 unsecured bond. Judge Joely O’Rourke agreed.

Daniels had been summonsed to appear, after the charge was filed at the end of December.

Charging documents describe a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputy being dispatched on Dec. 2 for an attempted rape in Mineral and meeting Daniels at the Morton Police Department.

She reportedly told the deputy the boy, now 17, attempted to have sex with her when he showed up to her trailer in Mineral, first asking her and when she said no, forcing her down on the bed.

She said he began to force her knees apart when her husband’s mother walked in, Deputy Prosecutor Jeffrey Schaap wrote in the affidavit regarding probable cause.

However, the deputy then interviewed the boy who said they’d made a plan to meet at her trailer at 6 o’clock before school, according to Schaap, and after he arrived they hugged and her answer to his question was, “I don’t know.”

He reportedly said he was rubbing her thigh when the mother-in-law walked in and he would take a polygraph to prove he did nothing wrong, according to Schaap.

Schaap wrote that when the sheriff’s deputy re-contacted Daniels, she admitted she lied and made up the story to avoid a rift in her marriage.

Daniels was accompanied to court this afternoon by her husband. She was given a court-appointed lawyer and told to return for her arraignment on Jan. 26.