Lewis County Sirens.com

Updated at 6:56 p.m.

SHOE BOX SCARE AT CENTRALIA CITY HALL

• Police shut down a portion of North Pearl Street in Centralia after a small box was discovered sitting on a sidewalk next to City Hall, specifically outside police department offices, at about 9 a.m. this morning. Bomb technicians from the Washington State Patrol were summoned, who X-rayed what Police Chief Bob Berg said he thought was a shoe box, finding it empty. Nobody was evacuated, but personnel moved to a different part of the building, Berg said. The chief said it was sitting atop an access grate. The street was reopened about 11:45 a.m.

FIREFIGHTERS EVACUATE CHEHALIS MOVIE THEATER

• Firefighters summoned last night about a smokey haze inside the movie theater in Chehalis searched the building and finally discovered the transformer that feeds a neon sign above the concession stand had shorted out. Employees suspected it was the popcorn machine and didn’t evacuate the building until after firefighters arrived, according to Chehalis Fire Department Capt. Rob Gebhart. The call to the Midway Cinemas on Northeast Hampe Way came about 8:30 p.m., he said. After a manager noticed the sign wasn’t illuminated, crews found the charred wiring, Gebhart said. Gebhart said workers asked movie-goers in each of the theaters to exit the building, and estimated some 50 customers waited outside for 10 to 15 minutes before they were allowed back in. Gebhart said it was odd in that the incident didn’t trip the circuit breaker, but an electrician was going to come out today.

REALLY? ON VOICE MAIL?

• A 27-year-old Winlock man was jailed on Friday after he allegedly left voice messages for his girlfriend of five years following their break up saying he would kill her and dispose of her body where it wouldn’t be found. Ross C. Lawrence was contacted and arrested for felony harassment, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

BUSTING IN TO THE MASONIC TEMPLE

• Chehalis police were called just after 7 a.m. yesterday when someone observed a subject break through the front door window of the Masonic temple on the 100 block of West Main Street. Arriving officers searched the building and found a trail of blood – presumably from a glass cut – leading out the back door, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Nothing was taken, detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said.

SNEAKING INTO GIRL’S HOUSE

• Police were called about 7 p.m. on Saturday when someone saw a subject crawl through an upstairs window at a neighbor’s home on the 600 block of Southwest Pacific Avenue in Chehalis. Officers caught a 15-year-old boy coming back out the window, police said. It was his former girlfriend’s house, nobody was home at the time and the teenager was booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center for burglary. Detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said he didn’t know what the teen was doing there.

GLENOMA BURGLARY

• A deputy was called about 1 p.m. on Saturday to the 7500 block of U.S. Highway 12 in Glenoma where someone had gone into a mostly empty residence and stole a blanket, pillows, a fishing vest, jumper cables and a Garth Brooks CD collection, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

COINS, CURRENCY MISSING FROM CENTRALIA HOME

• A 45-year-old Centralia man called the sheriff’s office to his home on the 1500 block of North Pearl Street in Centralia on Friday afternoon after discovering someone had got into his gun safe and stolen numerous collectible currency and coins, including a Kennedy half dollar. No forced entry was found into the residence or the safe, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The loss is estimated at $500.

DRUGS

• A 31-year-old Centralia man was arrested in Centralia on Friday in connection with an ongoing Chehalis Police Department investigation into alleged drug dealing. Joseph L. Nickols was booked into the Lewis County jail for delivery of drugs and also possession of a controlled substance because he had a patch of Fentanyl – a potent pain medication –  without a prescription, detective Sgt. Gary WIlson said.

ALLEGED VANDALS CAPTURED

• Centralia police arrested three teenage boys after they were caught spray painting graffiti on a business at the 1900 block of North Pearl Street in Centralia yesterday afternoon. Further details were not readily available.

GRILL TAMPERING

• Centralia police were called about 3:50 a.m. today to the 500 block of North Pearl Street where an unknown subject apparently had entered a fenced area, turned on the propane to someone’s gas grill and then left.

WRECK

• A 17-year-old Mossyrock girl escaped with minor injuries when  she lost control of her car on the 400 block of Salmon Creek Road, traveled down an embankment, impacted a tree and landed on its top on Friday night, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The girl said it happened about 9 p.m. and she walked home, according to the sheriff’s office. Her Ford Focus was totaled, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. She was cited for wheels off the roadway and will likely be in trouble for driving with a suspended license, the sheriff’s office reported.

FROM THE COURTHOUSE

• The man who found himself shot when he confronted a resident inside an unlocked rural Chehalis home one night in February has pleaded guilty and apologized for what he did. Brian L. Creed, 51, was high on methamphetamine when he encountered an armed and just-awakened young man inside the manufactured home on the 400 block of Highway 603 west of Chehalis, according to authorities. Court documents say 24-year-old Joshua Norman ordered Creed out, but Creed charged him, Norman fired his 40 caliber handgun and then Creed tackled Norman on February 10. Norman held him at gunpoint until deputies arrived. Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke said Norman and his wife didn’t attend Friday’s court hearing in Lewis County Superior Court, but Creed read aloud a statement in which he told them and the court he was sorry. He pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary, although O’Rourke indicated it still wasn’t exactly clear what Creed’s intentions were for entering a stranger’s home. Creed, who was shot in the abdomen and hospitalized for about 10 days, was sentenced to just shy of three years in prison. He was also sentenced to 90 days for a separate second-degree trespass. He has two past convictions for felony theft and two more for misdemeanor theft.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants; reports of shoplifting; responses for burglar alarms, suspicious circumstances, a high school student who was “verbal” to staff at the school; complaints of loud neighbors, a woman’s child’s grandparents harassing her on Facebook … and more.

CHARGES FILED IN GAS STATION SHOTS FIRED CASE

• Bail was set at $100,000 for Gilbert Borquez after prosecutors filed charges in connection with Tuesday’s events outside an Adna gas station. Borquez, 36, told detectives he accidentally fired his sawed off shotgun into the ground when he and a group of others from Raymond were attempting to get a stolen car back from someone. Borquez on Friday was charged with first-degree assault, drive by shooting, second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of an illegal firearm. Prosecutors state in charging documents that a 911 operator was told one of the males fired a shotgun at a newer four-door vehicle. The participants and victim had fled by the time law enforcement officers arrived to the morning mayhem at the corner of Highway 603 and state Route 6.

BREAKING AND ENTERING

• A 45-year-old Centralia man was arrested last night after he was caught inside a vacant building at the 400 block of South Iron Street taking unspecified property. Brian H. Jones was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Centralia police took a report on Friday morning of someone breaking into a house under repair at the 1200 block of Delaware Avenue in Centralia and posting graffiti.

• Someone broke into an empty garage on the 500 block of South Silver Street in Centralia and left with a wheelbarrow from the yard, according to a report made to police on Friday.

MISSING TRUCK

• A black Chevrolet S10 was stolen from the backyard of a home on the 500 block of East Maple Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police about 1 a.m. yesterday. It has a license plate of B20781K, according to the Centralia Police Department.

K9 FINDS WANTED SUBJECT UNDER BRUSH

• Police dog Lobo was called in to track down a wanted person just after 7 p.m. on Friday in the area of North Tower Avenue and East Third Streets in Centralia. Michael E, Bicker, 27, of Centralia, was located hiding under bushes behind a business on B Street and booked into the lewis County Jail, according to police.

OOPS

• Police called to the 1500 block of Windsor Avenue in Centralia for a dispute over a laptop computer late Friday afternoon discovered it was stolen. Officers will be working with Amtrak police to get it back to its rightful owner, according to the Centralia Police Department.

VEHICLE PROWL

• A shopper at the Centralia Outlets off Lum Road returned to their vehicle to find someone had broken in and stolen a backpack and two Xbox 360 game systems just after 9 p.m. on Friday, according to the Centralia Police Department.

VANDALISM

• Centralia police took a report from a citizen yesterday that someone had broken out a window at the Borst home in Fort Borst Park.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants; reports of misdemeanor thefts … and more.

TEMPER TANTRUMS

• A 31-year-old man was arrested yesterday after deputies were called about someone breaking windows at the Mineral Post Office. The suspect, David J. Otis located in Morton, said he was having a bad day, and admitted to throwing a rock and an ash tray at the building, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The Mineral resident was booked into jail for second-degree malicious mischief, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. The damage is about $1,000, according to Brown.

• A 28-year-old man was arrested yesterday evening for assaults after deputies were called to the 100 block of Sunflower Lane in Onalaska. Eric C. Neilson, of Toledo, had gone to his mother’s home to pick up rent and allegedly swung a metal fence post a driver’s side window of a vehicle and broke out the rear window with a rock as well as shoved and punched people there, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Neilson was located down the road and told deputies he “wanted his money,” Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to Brown.

THEFTS OF WIRING

• Centralia police were called about 1:30 p.m. yesterday to a vacant residence on the 1000 block of South Pearl Street where someone had broken in and ripped out wiring and fixtures.

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said this morning deputies took reports of pieces of copper ground wire stolen from multiple utility poles along the 2100 block of Cispus Road in Randle and also the 200 block of Mineral Road South. The loss to Lewis County PUD is more than $4,500, according to the sheriff’s office.

VEHICLE VERUS BICYCLIST

• A 23-year-old woman on a bicycle was struck by a vehicle which then drove away yesterday at the 400 block of South Tower Avenue in Centralia. Police, called about 4 p.m., say the back tire on the bike was hit causing her to spin around. Her injuries were minor, according to the Centralia Police Department.

WRECK

• Centralia police were called just after 8 a.m. yesterday to Fremont Avenue and North Pearl Street where a motorist struck the rear of one of four vehicles which were stopped in a line. Injuries were minor, according to the Centralia Police Department.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, shoplifting, misdemeanor assaults  … and more.

Updated at 3:30 p.m.

DRIVE-BY SHOOTINGS?

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office booked a man into jail about 10:30 p.m. yesterday for drive-by shooting and first-degree assault. The jail roster lists him as Gilbert Borquez. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office confirmed the arrest, but declined to release any details on any assault or the arrest.

• Centralia police were called just after 1:30 a.m. today after someone shot out windows of an SUV belonging to a woman in her 20s and at the windows of her house with a BB or pellet gun at the 600 block of Alder Street. Images of an unknown suspect pulling up in a vehicle were captured on surveillance video, according to police.

MISSING JEWELRY

• A deputy was called about 5:30 p.m. yesterday for a burglary at a vacant house on the 300 block of Burchett Road in Onalaska. The owner, a Puyallup man, said sometime since April 1, someone forced open a door and left with what the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office described as miscellaneous jewelry totaling at least $70.

GARAGE BREAK-IN

• Morton police reported yesterday they are investigating what appears to be forced entry into a garage on the 100 block of Collar Avenue, and indications someone has been using the place to “hang out” in.

MISSING UTILITY TRAILER

• Someone stole a utility trailer from the 1000 block of J Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police yesterday morning. It has wood sides and a license plate of 8029XX, according to the Centralia Police Department.

POLICE: REPEAT SHOPLIFTER NABBED

• A 42-year-old man caught allegedly shoplifting tools from Lincoln Creek Lumber in Centralia was arrested yesterday at the business on the 1600 block of Harrison Avenue and accused of stealing from the store three times in the past several weeks. Police officers called about 11:30 a.m. concluded John L. Lybert’s image is on videotape committing the crimes,  according to the Centralia Police Department. Lybert was booked into the Lewis County Jail for a felony, organized retail theft, because of the repeated offenses within the same 180-day period, according to police.  However, prosecutors are referring the case back as a misdemeanor offense for municipal court.

VANDALISM

• Police took  report of graffiti on a shed last night at the 1300 block of Oxford Avenue in Centralia.

LOST AND FOUND

• Morton police said yesterday that the bones a citizen found last week are probably deer bones; an examination concluded they are not human. Chief Dan Mortensen said he believes they were discovered along state Route 508.

• A Morton police officer found a portable radio in the area of the 600 block of Main Avenue which can be claimed by its owner if they can identify it, according to the Morton Police Department.

ALLEGED GANG MEMBER ACCUSED OF INTIMIDATING WITNESS

• A judge ordered 32-year-old Centralian Joshua Rhoades held without bail this morning, less than a week before his trial is to begin in Lewis County Superior Court. Rhoades is charged with second-degree assault in connection with a late January incident in which a 17-year-old boy was jumped on a Centralia street. Police and prosecutors say it was gang-related. Deputy Prosecutor Joely O’Rourke said Rhoades was previously held on $100,000 bail, but bailed out of jail pending trial. However, O’Rourke alleged today that Rhoades violated conditions of his release by intimidating a witness. O’Rourke said a new charge is pending. “He denies that,” defense attorney Chris Baum said, noting his client has been out of town and wouldn’t have been in the area when the alleged intimidation occurred. The parties were in the courtroom in Chehalis today to confirm if they are ready for trial. Baum this morning asked Judge Richard Brosey to postpone the trial, as he hasn’t yet interviewed the victim. Baum said the contact information he was provided was inaccurate, and he wasn’t able to reach the teenager. Brosey ordered prosecutors to make the victim available for the defense attorney to talk with, and said the trial would remain scheduled for next Wednesday.

SEXUAL ABUSE TRIAL PUSHED TO JULY

• A trial scheduled for next week for a 32-year-old man charged with sexual abuse of a 13-year-old relative of his wife’s who was living in their Centralia home has been postponed. Marty R. Heap remains held in jail on $75,000 bail. He was arrested and charged in early March not long after taking a polygraph test about alleged incidents that had been brought to the attention of Centralia police in May of last year. The girl revealed Heap had sexually assaulted her, telling a detective she had thought it would stop, but it never did and that she didn’t want his son to grow up with a father in jail, according to charging documents. Heap denied the accusations and has pleaded not guilty. He is charged with three counts of second-degree child rape and one count of molestation. This morning attorneys agreed with a Lewis County Superior Court judge the trial could begin in mid-July.

VEHICLE VERSUS PEDESTRIAN

• A 13-year-old boy escaped with relatively minor injuries after he was hit by an SUV in a crosswalk this morning in Chehalis. Police and aid were called just before 8 a.m. to Northeast Cascade and Washington avenues where the boy was knocked about 15 feet out of the crosswalk, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Witnesses said the boy spotted his school bus arrive and darted across the street, detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said. The driver was probably traveling less than 20 mph, but already in motion from having just left a stop sign, Wilson said. The boy suffered scrapes, bumps and bruises, Wilson said.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor assaults, reports of suspicious circumstances; a report of possible child abuse that turned out to be mark left on a little one’s back from falling off a tricycle … and more.