Lewis County Sirens.com

Firefighters from multiple departments battle grass, hay fire off Rice Road this afternoon.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Just two days after county officials enacted outdoor burning restrictions because of potential fire danger, flames tore through fields in south Chehalis southwest of Interstate 5.

Veronica Redl and relatives were just returning to her home on Rice Road from the store this afternoon when they saw billowing smoke behind her two-acre property.

“We were kind of awestruck ourself,” Redl said. “We saw a lot of smoke.”

The Chehalis Fire Department was called at 2:37 p.m. for a small amount of fire around a hay baler, with a couple of bales which had ignited. Fire Capt. Rob Gebhart estimated the piece of equipment was 400 to 500 yards behind the first house that sits across the street from Stan Hedwall Park.

“Then the wind kicked in, and it took off,” Gebhart said.

Chehalis Firefighter Steve Emrich said it took only two to three minutes before flames spread to more than 10 acres, heading south and west.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported more than 30 acres burned, belonging to several different property owners.

Emrich this evening said he understood it was estimated at 100 acres.

They focused on protecting homes and outbuildings along the rural road.

“We tried to get in front of it with water, which we did,” Gebhart said. And someone with a dozer cut a fire line which was a huge help, he said.

Part of what burned was hayfield already cut, and fields with still tall hay and grass, he said.

They were assisted by crews from Lewis County Fire District 6, Riverside Fire Authority, Lewis County Fire District 5, Lewis County Fire District 1 and the state Department of Natural Resources. A brush truck from Toledo passing by even stopped and joined them, Gebhart said.

Rice Road was shut down from the park to Labree Road, and some residences were evacuated, according to the sheriff’s office.

Nobody was hurt. Fences and equipment were damaged, the sheriff’s office posted on its Facebook page.

The Chehalis Fire Department was back at the station by about 6 p.m. DNR personnel continued at the scene mopping up.

“We were lucky we were able to keep it out of a couple of super dry fields,” Emrich said.

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An estimated 100 acres were consumed; fences and equipment were damaged, but nobody was injured.

David Serrano Mosso is charged with kidnapping and assault in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A judge ordered a 20-year-old Centralia resident held on $500,000 bail in connection with an incident in which a man was found beaten and bleeding in the parking lot of Providence Centralia Hospital.

On Friday morning, Centralia police described the initial details as someone was trying to make a 37-year-old Centralia man drive somewhere, he got scared, pulled into the lot and was pistol whipped.

Charging documents in the case describe the victim as meeting someone he’d sold some wheels to, in order to get paid, and two males getting into his car, one of them shoving a pistol into his ribs and them telling him to drive out to a wooded area.

He said he noticed a third male following them in a white Honda-style car.

When he refused, and turned into the hospital parking lot along South Scheuber Road instead, the two males struck him, according to court documents.

A person visiting a friend at the hospital found the victim bleeding from his head and face, stumbling through the lot and helped him into the emergency room, according to court documents.

Officers arriving after the 10:20 p.m. call from the hospital last Thursday night, were told security found the unoccupied vehicle running with the driver’s door open and a large pool of blood on the ground nearby.

Inside the car was a BB gun the victim said was not his his. A wallet and .22 caliber bullet were found nearby.

The victim, Juventino Barrera-Martinez, told police he didn’t know the names of the males in his car, but did know the front seat passenger worked at Taco El Rey and lived on Russell Road, Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead wrote in court documents.

On Friday morning, David Serrano Mosso, 20, from Centralia, was arrested for consuming alcohol in violation of his 24/7 program with the Centralia Police Department. He was  booked into the Lewis County Jail.

Because he fit the description provided by the victim, Officer Buddy Croy questioned Serrano Mosso and found he worked at Taco El Rey and lived on Russell Road, Halstead wrote. He denied buying any wheels.

The victim picked Serrano Mosso from a photo montage on Sunday, as the individual in the front passenger seat of his car who had pulled the pistol on him, and assaulted him, according to Halstead.

Serrano Mosso was charged yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court with first-degree assault and first-degree kidnapping.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher asked that he be held on $500,000 bail, and Judge Nelson Hunt agreed.

Centralia attorney Don Blair was appointed to represent him. Serrano Mosso’s arraignment was scheduled for this morning.

Samath L. Hem, accompanied by his lawyer Jacob Clark, faces a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 23-year-old Tacoma man was given just over 12 years in prison today for his role in a violent robbery at a rural Chehalis home by a man expecting an escort he’d contacted on Backpage.com.

Samath L. Hem has been held in the Lewis County Jail since shortly after the April 29 events at a residence on the the 900 block of Logan Hill Road.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said two males arrived with the female to the home, but the 53-year-old victim didn’t report what happened until the following day.

The victim told authorities he was punched, hit in the head with a pistol and dragged to his bedroom where he was tied up with a power cord. His television and some checkbooks were gone when he was able to get himself untied and then some property belonging to him was discovered in the trunk of a car impounded after a shoplifting incident a few days later at Home Depot in Chehalis.

Natrone D. Bostick, 19, of Lakewood, pleaded guilty in mid-June and got a 15-year sentence.

Hem, with only a few misdemeanors in his past, was handed down a sentence today in Lewis County Superior Court of 12 years and three months.

Defense attorney Jacob Clark told the judge it was an agreed recommendation between him and the prosecutor’s office. Hem pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and second-degree burglary. He pleaded guilty to third-degree theft and possession of methamphetamine at the same time in the Home Depot case.

Judge Nelson Hunt agreed with the components of the plea deal.

Hem’s mother, fiancée and step-father sat behind him in the courtroom this afternoon, both women crying.

Hunt told Hem to turn around and take look at the emotion they were showing.

“This is about what you did,” Hunt said, as he admonished the defendant to remember the moment the next time he’s disposed to get into trouble.

The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office has said law enforcement figured out who the woman is, but no charges have been filed against her as of today.
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For background, read “Nineteen-year-old gets sentenced for Backpage.com related home invasion” from Thursday June 16, 2016, here