Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A casket was found wedged in a Lewis County creek over the weekend and authorities don’t yet know whether it contains a body.

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said he was notified of the discovery on Sunday night and waded out to take a look at it yesterday.

“We can’t tell if it’s occupied or not,” McLeod said.

The steel gray casket is partially submerged, the foot end driven into the creek bottom, almost as if deposited there by raging floodwaters, he said.

He’s meeting, probably tomorrow, with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue coordinator to make a plan to pull it out, he said.

He has no idea how long it’s been there.

McLeod said it is a creek off the Newaukum River, on private property, but wouldn’t disclose the location.

“I don’t want people going there,” he said.

It could be that it washed out of a burial spot on private property upstream or it could be something that someone owned and was never used, he said.

McLeod said he’s been making inquiries and is unaware of any public cemetery in the area, but he is checking with the county health department which would have registered any burials on private property.

The lid is damaged, he said, and it’s even a possibility any remains it contained have escaped. He won’t know until they retrieve it, he said.

McLeod said he has learned that steel caskets sometimes have a tube attached to the exterior, inside which a funeral director would have placed identifying documents if it had been used for a burial.

It was found by somebody who likes to fish on the Newaukum, and was out walking on a neighbor’s property checking out damage from the last flood, he said.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Police seized cars, trucks, firearms and a den full of mounted animal heads from an Onalaska couple who allegedly admitted using proceeds from an overgrown personal medicinal marijuana operation to generate approximately $136,000 per year.

When James L. Arnold and Laveta L. Arnold were contacted last week at their home on the 200 block of Griel Road, they told officers they’d been growing it for more than 15 years, but during the past five have been selling it for profit, according to the Centralia Police Department.

A search warrant was served last Thursday morning, with Centralia police, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputies and the SWAT Team.

They turned up more than 40 pounds of marijuana processed and packaged  for sale with a street value of at least $2,000 per pound, according to police. In a shop building, they located what police described as an elaborate indoor garden with 614 plants, according to police detective Patty Finch.

The state medical marijuana law allows for up to 15 plants or 24 ounces for a qualifying patient.

According to court documents, the couple initially agreed to cooperate with law enforcement, but a detective learned James Arnold was warning people he had said he’d help apprehend, and they were arrested on Tuesday.

The Arnolds were charged in Lewis County Superior Court with manufacture of marijuana, possession with intent to to deliver and with money laundering on Wednesday. Prosecutors contend it occurred within 1000 feet of school grounds and while armed with deadly weapons.

Detective Finch says the case will also be referred to the Internal Revenue Service for investigation of possible tax fraud and to state authorities for business tax evasion.

Bail was set at $25,000 for James and at $10,000 for Laveta. Their arraignments are scheduled for next Thursday at 3 p.m.

According to police and court documents, James, 55, owns Alpha Marine Installations based at the home, is a vice president of a medical marijuana dispensary in the Olympia area called Urban Medicinals as well as another location in the Tacoma area.

Among the five vehicles seized were a 1948 Ford hot rod pickup and a 1969 Chevy Corvette, according to Finch. The 33 guns included hunting rifles, assault rifles and handguns, Finch states.

Finch says Arnold admitted to purchasing all or part of the vehicles with proceeds from his marijuana growing operation, as well as financing numerous hunting safari trips to Africa to hunt large trophy animals.

Approximately 30 mounted animal heads were also taken from the home.

Law enforcement officers collected computers, personal and banking records and growing equipment along with some personal property and cell phones that all appear to be proceeds from the growing operation, according to Finch.

Court documents state Centralia Police Department’s Anti-Crime Team and the sheriff’s office opened a money laundering operation regarding the couple in between December and January, related to the sale of marijuana. Finch said in a news release last week’s search warrant followed several months of investigation.

The couple has no previous criminal history, according to their court files.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  The 22-year-old Adna man who dodged a real bullet less than two months ago got a deal from prosecutors in his drug cases that subsequently arose, but will be going away for awhile.

Phillip A. Pinotti was initially charged with first-degree assault for allegedly trying to run down a security officer who chased him out of a Centralia courtroom and down to the next block where he was parked. The officer, who had been trying to take him into custody for a misdemeanor warrant, said he fired his gun once because he thought the escapee was trying to hit him.

Phillip A. Pinotti, file photo

Investigations and evaluations by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, the county prosecutor, an internal review board and the Centralia police chief since the events of Dec. 16 led to a very different understanding of what occurred.

Prosecutors concluded Pinotti wasn’t attempting to harm Centralia Municipal Court Security Officer Stephen Howard, so instead of an offense with a maximum penalty of life in prison, Pinotti was allowed to plead guilty to three misdemeanors and was sentenced to time served.

Howard resigned after the police chief released a report criticizing him for his actions and decision making.

But in the midst of the various reviews, and while Pinotti was out on bail, he was arrested and charged with drug crimes, one new and one from last summer.

Pinotti pleaded guilty to two felonies, both involving heroin, and he appeared before a judge yesterday to be sentenced in Lewis County Superior Court.

He faced a standard sentencing range for delivery of heroin of 12 to 20 months in prison.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher and defense attorney Don Blair both agreed to recommend to the judge that Pinotti serve 12 months and one day.

Blair told Judge Nelson Hunt his client didn’t dispute he delivered heroin, that he was a drug addict and hopefully will remain drug free.

“When he gets out, he can start getting cleaned up,” Blair said.

When asked by the judge if he wanted to make a statement on his own behalf beyond what his lawyer had shared: “No thank you, your honor,” Pinotti said. “I have nothing to add.”

Meager asked that he be given four months to be served concurrently for possession of heroin from last August.

Judge Hunt agreed with all of it, including numerous fees and court costs as well as one year of supervision after he is released.

Also yesterday morning, Zachary J. Maurer pleaded guilty in connection with the August incident.

Police had the two of them under surveillance as they went to Longview to allegedly purchase heroin and subsequently impounded their vehicle finding drugs, according to court documents.

Like Pinotti, Maurer’s charge of  possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver was lowered to a charge of possession of heroin.

Meagher said the plea deal came about in part because they couldn’t get either one to testify against the other and also because police preferred they didn’t pursue it to protect the identity of an informant.

Maurer, 25, was given a middle of the range of sentence of 18 months. Meagher said it was longer than Pinotti’s for the same offense, because Maurer had some previous convictions on his record.
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For background, read “Centralia court security officer who fired upon escapee quits job” from Tuesday February 10, 2015, here