Posts Tagged ‘news reporter’

Centralia pair accused of helping fugitive flee

Saturday, August 23rd, 2014

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Two Centralia residents were arrested for allegedly helping a wanted man – who uses the identity of his dead 11-year-old brother – get out of jail and get out of town before authorities realized who he really was.

John Lewis, 53, has an arrest warrant from California and was arrested in Doty while deputies were investigating a large-scale fuel theft operation on July 31. He was believed to be 47-year-old Jason A. Lewis.

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputies using information obtained from phone calls made from the jail were led on Thursday to a home on the 2700 block Graf Road where they found almost a half pound of methamphetamine and arrested 51-year-old Shauna Teagle, according to authorities.

A second resident of the home, Eric D. Waller, 43, was already in the jail, but was arrested on the same information, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Eric Eisenberg said yesterday.

Waller and Teagle went before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court yesterday afternoon where they were charged with possession of meth with intent to deliver, as well as accomplices in Lewis’s bail jumping and identity theft.

Prosecutors contend Teagle admitted to dealing drugs with Lewis and Waller for years.

Lewis came to the attention of law enforcement officers late last month when surveillance video at a Texaco station in Silver Creek showed three vehicles arrive and somehow pump about $6,000 worth of fuel without paying. A subsequent search at the 100 block of Elk Creek Road in Doty turned up his canopied pickup truck with darkened windows and contained two large fuel tanks, a portable pump and a nozzle.

Lewis’s motorhome was parked inside a barn on the property.

More than a month earlier, an un-named source had told detectives the property owner, Harold Lusk, and a man from California were cooking methamphetamine for sale at the property and stealing large quantities of gasoline from local stations. The cook was supposedly hiding in the barn in a travel trailer. No mention was made in Lewis’s charging documents of meth-making materials located during the search.

Local authorities found a warrant for John A. Lewis out of Sacramento, and a criminal history involving drugs and theft that stretches back to 1986, according to charging documents.

Detectives uncovered records that John Lewis adopted the identity of his younger brother Jason Lewis, who died in 1977 at age 11, according to charging documents.

He was believed to have left town in his 1994 Mountain Air motorhome but charging documents indicate he gave that to Teagle and Waller in exchange for their help; and that Teagle provided him a car.

According to Teagle and Waller’s charging documents, the couple put up $2,000 for his bail and gave him $3,000 travel money. Another individual was paid $250 to arrange Lewis’s bail at Jail Sucks Bail Bonds.

Teagle allegedly arranged to have Lewis’s wife Debra Bean picked up from the Portland airport when she flew up to retrieve her husband.

Lewis bailed out two days after his arrest and failed to return to court for his arraignment.

Lewis is charged in Lewis County Superior Court with first-degree theft, first-degree trafficking in stolen property and possession of methamphetamine, and is also wanted now for bail jumping and identity theft.

Previously charged with Lewis in connection with the alleged fuel trafficking are Lusk, 28; Alyssa J. Hanson, 20, of Doty; and Raymond T. Hankins, 48, of Yelm.

Judge Richard Brosey set bail for Waller yesterday, at $100,000. Although he was about to start a new job driving a log truck, Waller is unemployed so qualified for a court appointed attorney, temporary defense attorney Bob Schroeter said.

The judge was told Teagle earns $1,600 a month managing a spa in Olympia, but also qualified for appointed counsel. Her bail was set at $50,000. Teagle is a 2012 graduate of drug court.

Their arraignments are set for this coming Thursday.
•••

For background, read “Sheriff’s Office: Large scale gasoline stealing operation uncovered” from Friday August 1, 2014, here

News brief: Body recovered near Randle deemed a suicide death

Friday, August 22nd, 2014

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County coroner has concluded a man found dead in the woods south of Randle on Wednesday died from suicide.

The body with a pickup truck was discovered by brush or berry pickers at the end of the 161 Road and is believed to be an individual reported missing from Bonney Lake at the end of May, according to authorities.

Coroner Warren McLeod said he has tentatively confirmed that and expects to make final  identification early next week.

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Cmdr. Steve Aust said it appeared the body had been there awhile.

McLeod said an autopsy conducted yesterday found no signs of trauma and the cause of death is probable carbon monoxide poisoning, based on items found at the scene.

Defendants in large-scale fuel theft out on bail

Friday, August 22nd, 2014

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Three of the individuals implicated in trafficking stolen fuel from a residence in Doty have pleaded not guilty and are out of custody awaiting trials, but law enforcement is still looking for the man they say owned a canopied pickup truck with darkened windows which held two large fuel tanks, a portable pump and a nozzle.

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John Lewis, aka Jason A. Lewis

The man identified as Jason A. Lewis, 47, was arrested when deputies searched the property on Elk Creek Road late last month, but after he made bail, the sheriff’s office concluded he really was John Lewis. They haven’t seen him since.

Detectives were led to their suspects from nighttime surveillance video at a Texaco station on U.S. Highway 12 in Silver Creek from July 28 that showed three vehicles arrive and somehow pump about $6,000 worth of fuel without paying.

They subsequently found numerous containers of gasoline including a 55-gallon drum of it and other items such as a half dozen plug-in access keypads for gas pumps at the Doty property.

Charges were filed Aug. 1 against Lewis, 28-year-old Harold E. Lusk who resides on the Elk Creek property, and Raymond T. Hankins, 48, from Yelm. Prosecutors subsequently charged Lusk’s girlfriend, 20-year-old Alyssa J. Hanson with trafficking in stolen property and possession of methamphetamine.

Lusk and Hanson both appeared in Lewis County Superior Court early last week and again yesterday, when they got dates set for their trials.

Taken from the Silver Creek business was about 1,600 gallons of regular unleaded gasoline, highway diesel and off-road diesel, according to charging documents.

The trials are all on the court calendar for this autumn.
•••

For background, read “On the run: Lewis County deputies seeking three in connection with large-scale fuel theft” from Sunday August 10, 2014, here

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Friday, August 22nd, 2014

Updated at 6:42 p.m.

DRUGS

• A 30-year-old woman from Texas arrested at Wal-Mart yesterday afternoon for reportedly taking food from the deli and eating it in the McDonald’s seating area with her companion was booked into the Lewis County Jail when a search of her purse turned up a variety of pills without proper prescription documentation, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Department spokesperson Linda Bailey said Kimberly R. Lawson and John C. Vaughn were being watched by security staff and threw away the packaging of the product, valued at just over $20. Both were arrested for third-degree theft and jailed, Bailey said.

MISSING HONDA CAR

• Centralia police were called about 11:20 a.m. yesterday regarding the theft of a white 1993 Honda Accord from a parking lot at the 200 block of North Pearl Street.

POLICE: HAM HILL BURGLARY SOLVED

• A 35-year-old Bucoda man was arrested yesterday for allegedly driving another male to a home on the 1100 block of Ham Hill Road last month for a burglary. On July 18, the resident returned home to find a window pried open, some of his belongings outside in the grass and tire tracks in the yard, according to police. A laptop computer for which he had a serial number for was missing and its information entered into a law enforcement database, charging documents state. A Centralia police detective yesterday was summoned to a Bucoda home by a Thurston County Sheriff’s Office detective who was there on another matter and found the stolen computer, according to the court documents. Curtis W. Hoffman who resides there with his mother and her caregiver, told Centralia detective Pat Beall what he had done, according to charging documents. Hoffman was booked into the Lewis County Jail and charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with residential burglary. His bail was set at $25,000.

COLLISION

• A bicyclist suffered minor injuries in a collision with a vehicle late yesterday afternoon at the 1200 block of North Pearl Street, according to the Centralia Police Department.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, burglary, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, disputes, misdemeanor theft, collision on city street, telephone harassment via texting, suspicious circumstances … and more.

 

News brief: Local oxycodone dealer goes back to prison

Thursday, August 21st, 2014

Updated

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The accused prolific local trafficker of pain medications was sentenced yesterday to 12 years behind bars, following a plea deal that helped him avoid a third strike and a life sentence.

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Forrest E. Amos,

Forrest E. Amos, 31, has been held in the Lewis County Jail since late last year when he was released from prison and charged with a multitude of offenses based on a lengthy investigation by Centralia police.

He originally faced 26 varied charges including leading organized crime, but on July 31 pleaded guilty to 14 offenses. Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead dropped the charge of organized crime.

Halstead also dismissed four counts of intimidating a witness, in a case from this summer in which Amos was suspected of planning from inside the jail to have associates hurt or pressure witnesses against him.

Law enforcement estimated that in 2011 when Amos was aggressively dealing Oxycodone, that he was the main supplier of the synthetic opiate within Lewis County, possessing and dealing thousands of pills a month. Charging documents outlined how Amos reportedly continued to traffic drugs to the outside through others from behind prison walls.

Amos’s second strike came for shanking a fellow inmate while he was in prison for his first strike, taking part in the beating of a man to steal his marijuana  and pistol in the year 2000 when he was 16 years old, according to court documents.

The former resident of Napavine and Chehalis agreed not to appeal his convictions or sentence in any way, according to court documents.

Among the crimes to which he was sentenced were delivery of  Oxycodone while incarcerated during 2013 as well as during 2012 before he was locked up.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey signed an order that included one year of supervision following his release, as well as numerous financial legal obligations including repaying $13,800 for his court-appointed attorney Don Blair.

•••

For background, read, “Police: Organized crime defendant created ‘hit list’ of key witnesses” Thursday June 19, 2014, here

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Thursday, August 21st, 2014

Updated at 7:46 p.m.

POLICE: SHOPLIFT GOES PHYSICAL

• Centralia police were called about 4:15 p.m. yesterday to a grocery store on the 500 block of South Tower Avenue where they were told a 45-year-old man fought with loss prevention officers after stealing a raspberry beer. James C. Weatherford was arrested for second-degree robbery and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department. Lewis County prosecutors declined to file that charge.

COLLISIONS

• Police responded to the 1200 block of Kresky Avenue in Centralia about 5:10 p.m. yesterday where they found a vehicle had driven off the roadway into a field, and the driver left. Phillip A. Pinotti, 22, of Centralia, was subsequently arrested for driving under the influence and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• One of four possible patients was taken to the hospital after a two-vehicle collision on the 2100 block of North Pearl Street yesterday evening involving a car and a pickup truck. Police  called about 7:30 p.m. said one pulled out in front of the other. A girl was transported with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

FIFE POLICE SEARCH MORTON RESIDENCE FOR WANTED PERSONS

• Officers from the Fife Police Department yesterday were joined by local sheriff’s deputies in looking for a pair of wanted subjects suspected to be hiding at a home in the Morton area. Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Cmdr. Steve Aust said they were searching for a man and a woman from a shooting incident in the north Pierce County town back on Aug. 11. About a half dozen officers went to the residence on the 800 block of Davis Lake Road yesterday afternoon but did not find them, Aust said. Fife police have been looking for the pair following a contact with an officer about 1:05 a.m. a week ago Monday in which an officer responding to a call about a near robbery encountered a dark blue Ford Explorer driven by a female and engaged in a struggle with her but got trapped in the vehicle’s open door as she put it in reverse, reportedly dragging the officer briefly, according to the Fife Police Department. The officer fired into the vehicle, which fled south toward Tacoma, and at one point on Interstate 5, someone from the vehicle may have fired through the back window at a pursuing patrol car, according to police. Fife police reported the suspect vehicle was later located unoccupied in Spanaway; it had been struck by gunfire and appeared the occupants may have sustained injuries. Aust said he didn’t know why the couple would have been in Lewis County.

FROM THE COURTHOUSE

• A former Adna area resident extradited from Virginia where he was serving in the U.S. Navy was sentenced yesterday for molesting a young relative when they lived together following the December 2007 flood. The girl told a detective it began when he was 17 and she was 9 and occurred over a two-year period, according to charging documents. Edward J. Guenther, 23, pleaded guilty as charged in Lewis County Superior Court to one count of first-degree child molestation and one count of first-degree child rape. Judge James Lawler yesterday morning agreed with the recommendations of of both attorneys that Guenther be given what is called a Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative. “I’m satisfied this is appropriate, I think both Mr. Guenther and society will benefit from this,” Lawler said. “Given the evaluation, I find he is amenable to treatment.” Under the agreement, Guenther must spend one year in jail and successfully complete a five-year long psychosexual treatment program. If he fails, he has an 11-year prison sentence waiting for him, defense attorney David Arcuri said. He will be monitored by the state Department of Corrections during that time and for the rest of his life, and must register as a sex offender, Arcuri said. Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer told the judge the victim was not opposed to the deal. One of the requirements for a defendant is they must be willing to admit what they did, Arcuri said. “This is not a guy who hangs out in parks, snatches girls and throws them in the bushes,” Arcuri said. “Those guys can’t do SSOSAs.” Guenther was charged last December, and has been held in the Lewis County Jail since mid-January.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving under the influence, misdemeanor assault; responses for alarm, disputes, misdemeanor theft, suspicious circumstances … and more.

News brief: Truck, body recovered near Randle

Thursday, August 21st, 2014

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A body found with a pickup truck yesterday afternoon south of Randle has yet to be identified but an autopsy is scheduled for today.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said the vehicle is registered to a man from Bonney Lake who was reported missing on May 27.

The discovery was made by brush or berry pickers at the end of the 161 road, which is off Forest Service Road 23, Cmdr. Steve Aust said.

Detectives aren’t suspecting foul play, Aust said.