Lewis County Sirens.com

Sohail Hasnani, sits to the right of defense attorney Bob Schroeter, while Zeshawn H. Hasnani, far right, waits in the jury box in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Centralia police found an indoor marijuana farm on Seminary Hill yesterday.

A pair of brothers who have rented a home there for the past seven months and were arrested and charged with numerous offenses say they were supplying product to medical marijuana dispensaries around the state, according to authorities.

When the men, ages 24 and 27, appeared in Lewis County Superior Court today, defense attorney Bob Schroeter noted they work in graphic design, have been to college, and called the material in question medical marijuana.

Schroeter pointed out the state has been forced to rewrite the rules regarding the distribution of marijuana.

“We’re in a gray area now,” Schroeter told the judge.

Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke said no, it was basically a for-profit marijuana operation.

Charging papers say they had four medical marijuana authorizations on the premises, but Centralia Police Department Sgt. Jim Shannon said even if it were a so-called collective garden – which allows a maximum of 45 plants – police counted 90 plants when they searched the property.

“These guys are far outside anything allowed under (Initiative) 502 or medical marijuana,” Shannon said.

Zeshawn H. Hasnani, 27, and Sohail Hasnani, 24, were ordered held on $250,000 bail.

While Initiative 502 passed by Washington voters in November has somewhat decriminalized recreational use of marijuana, no licenses have yet been issued to growers, distributors or retailers.

And local governments have kept at bay any legitimate cultivation of medical cannabis in the county via collective gardens through moratoriums and other means.

For the Centralia Police Department, it’s business as usual as far as the same old laws on the books regarding growing or distributing the weed.

According to charging papers filed today: Sgt. Shannon got a tip in early December about the home on the 2500 block of Seminary Hill Road, just east of Centralia.

He discovered a drastic spike in electricity consumption that began when the bill was put in Sohail Hasnani’s name in August. The mailing address for the bill was Boynton Beach, Florida.

Centralia police conducted night time surveillance from a neighbor’s property and not only detected the odor of marijuana coming from the Hasnani’s property, they noted security cameras in multiple locations.

Yesterday, at 1 p.m., a dozen Centralia police officers served a search warrant at the home.

After using the P.A. system for about 10 minutes, they went to the door and ordered the brothers to come out.

“They complied,” Shannon said.

They brought out their two Pit Bulls, according to charging documents.

Shannon said in one outbuilding police found one room for small plants, one room for medium plants and one room for large plants.

Plus another room for drying, he said, where there was a loaded shotgun, according to charging documents.

“There was marijuana littered all throughout the house,” Deputy Prosecutor O’Rourke wrote.

Shannon said police found about three pounds of marijuana in the home; O’Rourke wrote about 12 mason jars full.

Police seized $4,000 cash, a .22 rifle, a pistol and located numerous new, unused electronic items with tags still attached, according to O’Rourke.

The Hasnani brothers were charged today with manufacture, possession with intent to deliver, possession and maintaining a premises for using controlled substances. Special allegations of being near a school bus stop and committing the crimes while armed with a firearm are included.

And they are charged with money laundering.

According to charging documents, the brothers said they have a T-shirt business called Independent  Distributors, which O’Rourke alleges is nothing more than a mailbox in Florida.

Their 2011 tax returns shows it generated more than $133,000 in revenue.

They also have another business called “Smoketronics”, according to O’Rourke.

Police also found in the home receipts for packages that have been delivered through Fed-Ex to various other states, according to charging papers.

Shannon said police have been investigating their bank accounts and financial documents. So far, they found more than $40,000 in one account, according to charging documents.

O’Rourke writes the brothers traveled around in the Jeep, with the pistol, to sell their marijuana to dispensaries.

“In the past month, the duo admitted to collecting around $6,000 in cash from these dispensaries,” O’Rourke writes.

Defense attorney Schroeter this afternoon asked Judge James Lawler to release them on $10,000 unsecured signature bonds.

O’Rourke argued for, and got, bail set at $250,000.

“These types of underground black market operations draw violent crime,” O’Rourke said.

The brothers both were found to be indigent and qualified for court appointed attorneys.

They will appear again in court on Jan. 17 for their arraignments.

Sheriff’s office employee Robin Merchant takes finger prints of concealed pistol license applicant Don Jensen.

Updated

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Don Jensen has had guns for hunting since he was 13 years old.

At 54, the rural Chehalis man, who also owns a pistol, decided he’d like to keep his handgun closer at hand more of the time.

“I just feel with the times the way they are, I just feel more comfortable with a weapon on me,” said the Napavine School District maintenance worker.

Jensen was at the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office yesterday applying for a concealed pistol license, and he’s one of an increasing number of people doing so.

At the sheriff’s office front desk, staff ordinarily would get eight to 10 walkups each day, of persons either seeking a permit or renewing an expired one, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

Brown said they saw a jump in requests after last month’s school shooting in Connecticut, as well as some other events in November.

The Friday after the grade school shooting, 36 or 37 individuals came in, sheriff’s office employee Robin Merchant said.

“The following Monday, there were 44,” she said.

The license isn’t required of course to own a handgun, only to carry it concealed on your person out in public.

In 2011, 1,288 people sought a CPL or a renewal of one from the sheriff’s office. Last year, that number jumped to 1,567, with well over 250 of the requests coming in the final month of the year, according to the sheriff’s office.

The process is fairly simple, for the applicant.

Merchant just needs to see picture identification, and then take the person’s fingerprints, their application and their money.

A new license is $52.50. It’s good for five years; a renewal costs $32.

Then, there’s the wait of 30 days while sheriff’s office conducts a background check.

In general, to be eligible, a person must be at least 21, a U.S. citizen, have no felony history, and may not have been court ordered into a mental institution, according to Merchant and Brown.

Sheriff Steve Mansfield said he sees the increase in requests as a reaction where more people just want to be more in control of their own security and safety.

His hope is to do what he can to encourage folks to gain a full understanding of the law.

“And that they really think things through before they use a firearm to protect themselves,” Mansfield said.

One particular concern, that was even a topic of conversation yesterday among a gathering of sheriffs in Ellensburg, he said, is the databases used check for those who have been committed to mental hospitals aren’t good enough.

“We do the best we can to make sure the background checks are complete,” he said. But there’s no guarantees, he said.

Mansfield said to expect to see law enforcement leaders asking legislators to address that during the coming session.

Possession of a concealed pistol license shortens the waiting period when one purchases a firearm too, Mansfield said.

“If you look at each of these incidents, they haven’t been perpetrated by people you would consider criminals in our society,” Mansfield said, referring to mass shootings. “It’s these mentally ill white, middle class and upper middle class Americans.”

The sheriff’s office earlier this week posted to its Facebook friends that they’ve been overwhelmed with the major increase in CPL applications and cautions the process could take longer during the lunch hour. They also may not accept applications after 3 p.m. if there are more than they can complete by closing time at 4 p.m.

Individuals can apply for a CPL at the local law enforcement agency that serves the jurisdiction in which they live. The sheriff’s office accepts applications from residents, regardless of where they reside in the county.

At the Chehalis Police Department, records technician Julie Hampson said they get one or two requests a month, but she’s seen a steady increase since the Connecticut school shooting and the ensuing talk of gun control.

“I’d say we probably doubled, maybe even tripled,” Hampson said.

Centralia Police Department employee Gayle Mulligan didn’t really notice a jump.

“Once we had four in a week, that was a lot for us,” Mulligan said.

Jensen said his visit yesterday to the sheriff’s office in Chehalis wasn’t about mass shootings.

“With the way things are, I just want to be able to defend myself,” he said.

After his background check is complete, he’ll be able to keep his handgun on him and loaded in public, he said, just not when he’s on school property.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A deal was struck today that means there will be no trial for James M. Reeder but he will go to prison for many years and possibly the rest of his life.

The 26-year-old, accused of rape, torture and the death of his girlfriend’s toddler, pleaded guilty today, but didn’t admit guilt.

James M. Reeder

He made a so-called Alford plea in which he acknowledged a jury hearing the evidence would likely find him guilty, but acknowledged no wrongdoing.

“We got the maximum of life, which is the best we could get at trial, and we don’t have to deal with appeals,” Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said this afternoon.

Koralynn Fister, 2, died May 24 in Centralia. Reeder claimed he stepped away to get a towel while giving her a bath and returned to find her face down in the tub. She died from head trauma and drowning, but authorities said they also found evidence of sexual assault.

The unemployed man who previously worked as a floor installer was separated from his wife when he moved in with Koralynn’s mother in Centralia roughly two months before the death.

According to a report in his court file, he attempted suicide in the jail, trying to drown himself in the sink.

Reeder pleaded guilty today in Lewis County Superior Court to homicide by abuse, second-degree assault, two counts of first-degree rape of a child and possession of methamphetamine.

His sentencing will probably occur around the first part of February, according to Meyer.

The rape conviction means he will be sentenced to an indeterminate length of time with a maximum of life, according to Meyer. A board, like the former parole board, will be responsible for deciding when and if he gets released after he’s served the minimum number of years.

Reeder has no felony criminal history.

Meyer said he will recommend to the judge the minimum stay be 37 and a half years. Reeder’s attorney will be free to recommend 28 years, he said.

Those numbers come from the offense that has the highest standard range among the five counts to which Reeder pleaded guilty; homicide by abuse. It has a standard sentencing range of roughly 28 to 37 and a half years.

Defense attorney David Arcuri didn’t return a phone call this afternoon seeking comment.

As part of the deal, Reeder gave up his right to appeal in any way, according to Meyer.

Secondarily, Meyer said, this avoids the trauma of a trial for all involved.

“Police officers, doctors, jurors, other witnesses; jurors would have to see things they’ve never seen before,” he said of the graphic evidence.

Meyer also this afternoon spoke of his gratitude to the professionalism of members of the fire and police departments.

“They saw things and dealt with things they never should have,” he said.

Reeder will make a brief appearance in court on Jan. 17 to set a date for sentencing. They will have to wait for a pre-sentencing review to be conducted by the state Department of Corrections.
•••

For background, read “Breaking news: Mother’s boyfriend held for investigation of rape, murder of Centralia child” from Friday May 25, 2012 at 5 p.m., here