Judy Chafin, right, and her lawyer Sam Groberg listen as L&I investigator Russell Gow testifies in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Chehalis woman who operated what became controversial halfway houses in Lewis County for newly released prisoners and homeless persons contends she’s innocent of the latest charges against her, allegedly working at the same time she was collecting payments for an on-the-job injury.
A judge will decide.
Judy Chafin, 62, was in Lewis County Superior Court this morning when a bench trial began that is scheduled for three days.
Chafin is charged with 30 counts of forgery and two counts of first-degree theft, based on benefits received from the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries and Social Security disability.
Defense attorney Sam Groberg said the state agency had already investigated and decided not to pursue charges against his client before a second investigation was conducted, leading to the current case which was filed in September.
“She doesn’t dispute she applied for and received benefits from L&I and Social Security,” Groberg told the judge. “The dispute we have today revolves around whether or not this is work.”
Groberg said Chafin’s activities didn’t amount to work, as defined by the state agency.
His client’s position is that she wasn’t working, never worked and didn’t receive any money, he said.
“Also the fact that she didn’t disclose 100 percent fully, doesn’t rise to theft first,” Groberg said.
Chafin founded she called the House of the Rising Son in Chehalis between 2006 and 2007 and in subsequent years, managed other similar homes around the county, according to authorities. She suffered an on-the-job injury in September 2006, while working as a certified nursing assistant at Tiffin House in Centralia.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Eric Eisenberg said the L&I disability payments she received were called time loss benefits, based on the idea she could not perform any work.
“Ms. Chafin was supposed to report if she worked at all, no matter how little,” Eisenberg told the judge.
Eisenberg said she started as treasurer of the House of The Rising Son but eventually took over the entire organization.
She performed landlord-like services, such as collecting rent, paying utilities and was responsible for evictions, he said.
Charging documents alleged that since 2006, Chafin wrongly received in excess of $90,000 in benefits.
Eisenberg told the judge she also negotiated a contract with two individuals to perform activities similar to those she provided when working at Tiffin House.
Eisenberg said the organization expanded during 2010, 2011 and 2012 to as many as 10 other similar homes.
Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler is hearing the case.
Chafin began to get a lot of attention from law enforcement and then city and county officials beginning about two years ago when residents on a rural Chehalis road complained they didn’t want multiple felons, especially registered sex offenders, living together under one roof in their neighborhood. Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield vowed to do everything he could to shut her down.
Earlier this year, she was sentenced to 30 days of house arrest, for a prescription drug offense, she said was simply an oversight on her part. Prosecutors had initially charged her also with delivery of drugs and with a forgery, but dropped all but the possession of seven and half pills of morphine charge before her trial began.
At the time, she said she was entirely done with what she called her mission, having chosen not to fight the various zoning actions and finding places for the various tenants to live.
She has described the home owners of the various House of The Rising Son properties as individuals who got tired of renting to drug addicts, and said her number one house rule was no drugs or alcohol.
•••
For background, read:
• “Discord on Nix Road: Newest arrivals unwelcome” from Saturday March 3, 2012, here
• “The backstory: Intelligence gathering, possible fines and code enforcement tools “not normally used” from Sunday March 4, 2012, here
• “The sun sets on House of the Rising Son” from Thursday March 20, 2014, here
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Notes from behind the news: What did we do before there was Lewis County Sirens?
June 22nd, 2014By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Well, many of you know I really, really like gathering information and writing news stories about crime, cops, courts, fire, and what-have-you in greater Lewis County.
It’s something I’ve done here for more than a dozen years.
When I decided to launch an independent online-only news site, I was able to re-double my dedication to providing news that is accurate, timely, fair, balanced, and most of all, newsworthy.
I work hard to avoid disappointing my readers.
Sharyn L. Decker
Often that means I’m punching away at the keyboard at 9 o’clock at night. Sometimes it means I set my alarm for 5 a.m.
It always means I ask myself, what do readers want to know about this? And I reach out to get answers; and confirm the “facts” that I’m not certain about.
Well, it’s been four years now.
That’s right.
Lewis County Sirens celebrates its four-year-anniversary this month.
I still enjoy very much getting up each morning and digging up what no other news outlet has found.
Sometimes it’s just a snippet, or a snapshot of the previous 24 hours as in Sharyn’s Sirens Roundup where you can read about select calls and encounters involving local police and fire departments.
Sometimes it’s in-depth coverage over time of a significant event: think John Booth triple murder on Wings Way, or Ronda Reynolds suicide or homicide with court case and coroner’s inquest, or Ronald Brady and the intruders outside his Onalaska house.
And then other times, it’s every kind of thing in between.
I don’t know who said it first, but it stuck in my mind; that news reporters are the ones who bring us the first draft of history. What a tremendous responsibility that is.
It’s been rewarding for me, and I’m pretty sure its been a refreshing bit of reading for many who live in, work in or care about this area.
I actually had 1,000 readers the same month I launched, June 2010. By the end of that year, Lewis County Sirens.com was approaching the circulation of the local daily newspaper here.
Twelve months later, my number of readers had more than tripled.
Today, Lewis County Sirens.com has well over 50,000 readers. That’s huge in a county with a population of somewhere around 75,000 people.
That’s more than five times the number of people who subscribe to the newspaper here.
Really, it’s not surprising it has become wildly popular, because crime (and high school sports) are the most-read parts of any newspaper. Plus, and mainly, I think, my reputation as a trusted news source is solid.
Readers spend an average of about five minutes navigating around my news site during each visit. And best of all, what has really grown is how readers contribute through their comments.
It along with its companion Facebook page – which is a horse of a different color really, but is also a wealth of reader contributed information and commentary – have grown into something I wouldn’t quite have imagined four years ago.
Lewis County Sirens has found a bit of time to reach further out into the community, through an opportunity to support Centralia’s live theater, in a small way. And now, as co-media sponsor of the upcoming DB Cooper Music Festival. Doing my part to help give us all a break from the trauma, drama and disaster that comes with focusing on crime daily, and when it happens.
Will Lewis County Sirens be around four years from now?
It’s hard to say.
As many of you know, being an entrepreneur has its challenges. Me, I’m that and a dedicated news reporter. Those are two tall pairs of boots to fill at the same time.
And I’m just one human. I really do only have two feet.
So, as Lewis County Sirens celebrates four years, I’m going to suggest that any of you who find it a truly valuable resource in our community consider what, if anything, you might do to ensure its continued publication.
Feel free to simply keep reading and enjoying it for no charge. I grew up with the idea of free news, and I like that. In fact, absolutely do continue reading. The larger the number of readers, of visits, of page views, the more valuable the advertising space is to those who want to promote what they do.
And that’s what supports Lewis County Sirens when it comes right down to it, the advertising.
While I think I’m a pretty terrific news reporter, the one who fills the boots in the ad sales department hasn’t done a whole lot to make sure that area businesses, organizations and other enterprises know what an amazing opportunity exists with an ad on the news site.
There simply is nowhere else locally to reach so many people, for so little money. We get hundreds of thousands of page views each month.
So readers, I’m asking you, if you’re a fan, if you are someone who really wants to help, then think about your own business, or someone close to you, who could benefit from placing an ad on the most-read local news site. And then tell them about it.
I’m feeling so good on this fourth “birthday” that I’ve come up with a special pricing deal – a super good one, actually – for anyone who launches an ad before June 30. Ask me about it.
Also, there’s that little yellow “donate” button on the right hand side of the news site. This may sound like a public television pitch, but if you like what you are reading, and feel it’s worth paying for, and can afford to, consider making an ongoing small donation, or consider a one-time contribution.
Whatever suits you. Whatever feels right.
If money is too tight, but you still feel like you really want to contribute to the ongoing success of this resource, one way to do that, if you happen to be on Facebook, is whenever you read a particularly interesting news item, hit the share button and blast a link to all your friends.
That’s pretty much it for Lewis County Sirens’ birthday wish list.
Well, okay, there is one other thing, for anyone who may be feeling a bit of appreciation and can’t think of any other way to show it. Since you asked …
You could send me a Starbuck’s gift card, and consider the caffeine an investment in helping me get through one of the coming news cycles. 😉
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