Lewis County Sirens.com

Updated at 8:40 p.m.

ATTEMPTED CHILD SNATCHING OR MISTAKEN IDENTITY?

• Centralia police say a 36-year-old man was taken into custody after he allegedly attempted to take a small child that was with its parents in the emergency room at Providence Centralia Hospital last night. The little one was still in its car seat, according to police. When questioned, William M. Eaton believed the child was his, and may have been high on drugs, according to the Centralia Police Department. Hospital security personnel and a police officer who happened to be there for a different reason responded to the approximately 8 p.m. incident. The case is being sent to prosecutors for a recommended charge of attempted kidnapping, according to the Centralia Police Department. Eaton, a Chehalis resident, remains at the hospital being treated for unspecified reasons, and police continue to investigate.

BURGLARY CHEHALIS

• Chehalis police were called just before 5 p.m. yesterday to the 600 block of Northwest St. Helens Avenue when a burglary was discovered. There was no sign of forced entry, but cash was missing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• Police were called to an apartment on the 300 block of Southwest Third Street in Chehalis just before 7 o’clock last night when a couple came inside from being on their front porch for a few minutes and found the wife’s purse dumped out on their couch.  Nothing appeared to be missing, but the residents think someone came in through the back door while they were in front, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

THRIFT SHOP MISSING CASH

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports this morning that someone stole a cash bag containing approximately $200 from the Packwood Presbyterian Thrift Store on U.S. Highway 12 in Randle. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown it was taken from the counter while the clerk was helping another customer on Friday, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

AUTO THEFT

• A Pontiac Grand Am reported missing about 7:45 a.m. yesterday from the 300 block of Centralia College Boulevard in Centralia was discovered abandoned near Penny Playground in Chehalis about 11:30 a.m., according to police.

DISORDERLINESS

• Police arrested a 51-year-old homeless man for disorderly conduct after getting called just after 6 p.m. yesterday about an individual yelling and running at people on the 400 block of North Tower Avenue. Keith A. Smith was then released but less than two hours later arrested and booked into jail for trespassing after reportedly going to a location on the 2000 block of Cooks Hill Road where he had already been told not to come back, according to the Centralia Police Department.

FROM THE COURTHOUSE

• A former manager of the Packwood Inn will return to court next Thursday for arraignment, charged with second-degree extortion in connection with allegations he tampered with the business website and told the owner he’d relinquish control of the site once a check for his backpay arrived and cleared the bank. David J. Langley, 52, was charged in November 2013 in Lewis County Superior Court, following an investigation that summer, according to court documents. A warrant for his arrest was issued. Langley, whose address is shown in his court file as in Ocean Shores, was arrested on Monday and went before a judge on Tuesday afternoon. Charging documents state a deputy was called to the east end establishment after Langley left employment there, by another worker who noticed messages on the website that were similar statements Langley had made, talking bad about the owner not paying his employees on time. The site was fixed, then tampered with again, showing images of guns and the words FBI, and then finally dissolving into a blank white page, according to documents. The owner Vrajlal Nariya, said Langley was the only person with the password and access to the site, charging documents relate. Nariya showed the deputy an email from Langley on July 2, 2013 requesting backpay and stating once he received it, he would restore control of the site to the Packwood Inn, according to the documents. Langley was released from the Lewis County jail on Tuesday evening on a $10,000 signature bond. His opportunity to make his plea is scheduled for the morning on Oct. 30. Second-degree extortion has a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

FINGER POINTING LEADS TO NO TICKET

• Two motorists who nearly collided as they passed in opposite directions on the  1700 block of Centralia-Alpha Road swerved away from each other and wrecked in opposite ditches yesterday. A deputy responding to the approximately noontime incident was told by each of the two women that the other had crossed the centerline, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Both were transported to Providence Centralia Hospital Hospital with non-life threatening injuries and both the Ford Ranger and Ford Explorer sustained major damage, according to the sheriff’s office. No citation was issued.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, shoplifting, trespass, misdemeanor assault, driving with suspended license; responses for dispute, suspicious circumstances, collisions on city streets, fender bender in parking lot … and more.

Updated at 6:01 p.m.

BIG WIRE THEFT

• Someone stole an estimated $6,000 worth of wire from a rock pit at the 3000 block of Foron Road outside Centralia over the weekend, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown reports this morning that 400 feet of wire was taken from Dulin Construction between Friday and Monday. Brown said she didn’t know if it was in-use wiring ripped from machinery or a building or if it was product that was being stored.

AUTO THEFT

• A black 1996 Honda Accord was reported stolen yesterday between 5:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. from behind the football stadium  off the 2500 block of Mount Vista Road in Centralia. Paint is peeling from the trunk and roof of the four-door vehicle, with a license plate reading 505 XRH,  according to the Centralia Police Department.

MOTEL SERVICES THEFT

• A 66-year-old Centralia woman was arrested yesterday at the 1300 block of Belmont Avenue in Centralia for allegedly refusing to leave or pay for a room she rented. Centralia police called about 1:40 p.m. cited Alexa S. Hoover for defrauding an innkeeper and then released her, according to the Centralia Police Department.

FAKE BILL

• Chehalis police were called to Wal-Mart around 11:40 p.m. yesterday when a customer attempted to spend what turned out to be a counterfeit $100 bill. An officer took possession of the bill to send along to the U.S. Secret Service but there was no established intent on the part of the 64-year-old Centralia man to engage in wrongdoing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

LEWIS COUNTY MAN FACES ELUDING AND RELATED CHARGES

• A 44-year-old Mineral resident pleaded not guilty yesterday in Cowlitz County Superior Court to numerous charges stemming from an incident earlier this month in which he allegedly rammed patrol cars and led police on a chase through Longview, according to The (Longview) Daily News. News reporter Justin Pittman writes that on Oct. 5 when the pursuit ended, Mark A. Koopman refused to leave his vehicle and began cutting himself, prompting an officer to break a window, leading to a laceration that required surgery.

FROM THE COURTS

• An opinion filed yesterday by the Washington Court of Appeals affirmed a dismissal by a Lewis County Superior Court judge of a felony shoplifting charge against a Centralia man from last year. In February 2013, 41-year-old Tom Reeves of Centralia was arrested after allegedly using pliers to cut a security device from merchandise at Wal-Mart in Chehalis, and fleeing on his bicycle. Police located Reeves just down the road and recovered a stolen surveillance camera set from a backpack, according to authorities, and prosecutors charged him with retail theft with extenuating circumstances. The felony charge was based on the theory the use of pliers was an extenuating circumstance, but the law states “(A)n extenuating circumstance for retail theft includes being in possession of ‘an item, article, implement, or device designed to overcome security systems including, but not limited to, lined bags or tag removers’.” The trial court reasoned that including common tools in the definition of devices designed to overcome security systems would render every act of removing a security device an extenuating circumstance, the three-member panel of the Court of Appeals Division II wrote.

LOST IN THE WOODS

• Lewis County Search and Rescue this morning located a pair of mushroom hunters who had spent the night outside near Packwood. A spokesperson for the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office had no further information this morning. Lewis County Fire District 10 Chief Lonnie Goble said his department was not called to render any aid.

COLLISION

• A 60-year-old Glenoma man was transported to the hospital this afternoon after his car ran off of U.S. Highway 12 near Randle and struck a tree. Bert D. Dallman was westbound and traveling too fast for conditions when he wrecked about 2 p.m., roughly four miles west of town, according to the Washington State Patrol. The 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier was totaled, according to the state patrol. Lewis County Fire District 14 Chief Jeff Jaques said the driver’s injuries were minor. “He traveled through the grass a ways before he hit the tree,” Jaques said. “It was a pretty good-sized fir tree; the tree didn’t give.”

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, shoplifting, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, found bicycle, disorderly person, misdemeanor assault, possible sex-related offense, suspicious circumstances, bullying at school, collisions on city streets … and more.

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CORRECTION: This has been updated to correctly identify the woman cited and removed from a Centralia motel for refusing to pay. Centralia police erroneously reported to the news media that it was a 57-year-old Centralia with a different name.

GUNS SEIZED FROM CHEHALIS MAN AFTER ALLEGED RIFLE POINTING INCIDENT

• Deputies were called yesterday by a motorist on Highway 603 west of Chehalis who said a shirtless blond man in a yard was waving a gun in the air and when he drove by again, the man pointed the rifle at him. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said it happened about 3:15 p.m. along the 300 block and deputies subsequently located their suspect standing on his porch on the 500 block of Highway 603. The suspect screamed and yelled aggressively at deputies, one of whom pulled out a Taser and the suspect was taken to the ground and taken into custody, according to the sheriff’s office. James P. Sauter, 51, of Chehalis, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree assault,  Brown said. Seized from Sauter’s vehicle were a handgun, an assault rifle and ammunition, according to Brown.

STOLEN MEDS CHEHALIS

• Chehalis police were called yesterday to 200 block of Southeast Washington Avenue regarding numerous prescription medications missing, totaling more than $1,500, including pain killers and one drug which was valued at $1,200, according to the Chehalis Police Department. The victim has a suspect in mind, according to police.

BUSINESS BURGLED IN MOSSYROCK

• Morton police yesterday reported they are investigating a burglary to a business on the 200 block of East State Street in Mossyrock. An officer called about 1:40 p.m. on Sunday learned from the owner that money was stolen after someone cut the gate on the fence and pried open a door to get inside. The amount missing was undetermined as of yesterday, according to the Morton Police Department.

BREAK-IN CENTRALIA

• Centralia police responded to an approximately 3 p.m. call yesterday about a burglary to a vacant house on the 1000 block of Eckerson Road. Officers were provided a video showing the suspects, according to the Centralia Police Department.

POLICE: IMPOSTER TAKES PHONES FROM BUSINESS

• Centralia police took a report yesterday from a business on the 1200 block of Lum Road regarding cell phones stolen by someone posing as a sales representative of another cell phone phone store. The case is under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.

THEFT FROM GARAGE IN WINLOCK

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning that a deputy took a report of a chainsaw stolen from an open garage on the 900 block of Byham Road outside Winlock. The Stihl brand item engraved with the name “Jack Miller” disappeared sometime between noon on Oct. 11 and 5 p.m. on Saturday, according to the sheriff’s office.

FRAUD

• An individual called Chehalis police yesterday to report someone unauthorized used their debit card to spend $50.91 at a gas station  on the 100 block of Southwest Interstate Avenue.

CHECK BAD

• Chehalis police are investigating after being told late yesterday afternoon that someone put a stop payment on a large check cashed or spent at a business on the 2100 block of North National Avenue.

WEAPONS TAKEN IN CAR PROWLS

• A vehicle that broke down in a parking lot yesterday at the 1500 block of Lincoln Creek Road west of Centralia was prowled sometime between 6 a.m. and 12:30 a.m., according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The rear window was broken and among the property taken was a Remington hunting rifle, a Hawaiian print backpack and men’s clothing, according to the sheriff’s office.

• An officer was called to the Lewis County Mall yesterday afternoon  regarding a vehicle prowl in which someone stole a tool box, two compound bows and other items including a stereo. The victim had left the truck three days earlier with a flat tire in the parking lot at the 100 block of Northeast Hampe Way, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

VEHICLE VERSUS PEDESTRIAN

• Morton police reported yesterday they were told by witnesses that a female pedestrian stepped right out into the street without looking before she was struck by a vehicle on Wednesday afternoon. Her injuries were minor but she was transported to Morton General Hospital after the approximately 4:30 p.m. incident at Temple Avenue and Third Street, according to the Morton Police Department.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor theft, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, dispute, trespassing, hit and run, found bicycle, suspicious circumstances, collision on city street, deer jumping onto county road causing two-vehicle collision, rear-end collision on county road causing major damage to a Volvo but only minor damage to a Kia Optima and a Chevrolet Camaro … and more.

BURGLARY

• Someone stole about $5,000 worth of old coins from a safe at a residence on the 100 block of Clark Road in Onalaska sometime during the week that ended on Friday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said there is a person of interest.

• Chehalis police took a report on Friday that a Remington shotgun was stolen from a residence on the 200 block of James Street.

DOMESTIC ON FREEWAY

• Shane L. Davis, 41 of Vancouver, was handed over to troopers last night after he was found hiding in the woods behind a home on the 2300 block of Blair Road in Centralia. Officers responded about 5:25 p.m. to assist troopers who were dealing with a reported assault on Interstate 5 just north of the city, according to the Centralia Police Department. The suspect had fled into the woods, according to police. A dog track was unsuccessful, until about to hours later when police were called about a suspicious male, police report. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail for fourth-degree assault.

PORN SCAM

• Chehalis police were called on Friday by a man who said a popup porn message appeared on his cell phone after his teenage son attempted to download an app, the message purportedly from the FBI warning his phone was locked was locked down and he must pay $500. Police confiscated the phone because the image(s) in question are questionable, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said there’s no reason to think the FBI would do such a thing, the attempt is a scam. He advises folks to be cautious when downloading apps, and be sure to read the fine print.

DRUGS

• A 26-year-old Centralia man was arrested for possession of methamphetamine on Saturday evening near Mellen and Marsh streets in Centralia. Brian M. Williams reportedly ran from officers who recognized him about 7 p.m., according to the Centralia Police Department. He was wanted on a warrant from the state Department of Corrections and was taken into custody after a brief struggle, according to police. Williams was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

VEHICLE PROWL

• Centralia police took a report about 11:30 a.m. on Saturday regarding someone prowling through unlocked vehicles at the 900 block of North Washington Avenue. Nothing seemed to be missing, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Chehalis police were called on Saturday to the 1600 block of Southeast Aust Manor Drive where someone had gotten inside an unlocked vehicle during the night and stole a purse and its contents.

MALICIOUS MISCHIEF

• Centralia police took a report yesterday afternoon from the 100 block of Jackson Street in Centralia that an unknown person had removed the screws holding the lights to a vehicle.

UNDERAGE DRINKING

• A 21-year-old Chehalis resident faces a possible charge of furnishing liquor to minors, after deputies learned two minors involved in a single-vehicle accident early on Sunday morning had just left a party on the 1600 block of Bishop Road in Chehalis where they had been drinking. Deputies had responded to the area earlier regarding parking issues and were assured by the 21-year-old host he was checking guest’s identification to make sure no one was underage, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, reckless driving, underage drinking, misdemeanor assault, resisting arrest, driving with suspended license, driving under the influence; responses for alarm, dispute, trespassing, misdemeanor theft, protection order violation, suspicious circumstances, noisy neighbor party, report of sex crime in the past, vehicle versus deer, collision on city street, SUV driving on someone’s lawn, passenger mooning motorists on Chamber of Commerce Way … and more.

NOT SHOT

• A 19-year-old Centralia resident was arrested yesterday for disorderly conduct after reportedly walking in and out of traffic, yelling and throwing things at passing vehicles. Police say Jacob S. Drury then walked into a house and announced he’d been shot, which he hadn’t been. It happened in the area of the 200 block of Latona Street about 4:40 p.m. Drury was back out in the street when officers arrived, according to the Centralia Police Department. Sgt. Kurt Reichert said it appeared he may have been under the influence of something. Drury was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

VEHICLE PROWL

• Centralia police responded to a report about 6:10 a.m. today of a car prowl on the 1100 block of J Street. Tools were taken, according to the Centralia Police Department.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, resisting arrest, driving under the influence, malicious mischief, misdemeanor theft … and more.