Lewis County Sirens.com

HOUSE FIRE IN GRAND MOUND

• Fire broke out in a laundry room at a Grand Mound home last night. Firefighters called at 11:40 p.m. to Starlit Lane off 196th Avenue Southwest had the fire knocked down 10 minutes later, according to Chief Robert Scott of West Thurston Regional Fire Authority. Nobody was injured and the fire damage was limited to the laundry room, although there was smoke damage throughout the home, Scott said. A loud noise awoke the mother and her children, and then smoke detectors went off, according to the fire department. The family had to stay at a hotel last night, the fire department reported. The fire started near the dryer, Scott said.

BAD DAY GETS WORSE

• A 20-year-old Winlock woman was arrested after she reportedly kicked out a window in front of the former movie theater in downtown Chehalis yesterday. Police and aid were called about 11:25 a.m. to the 500 block of North Market Boulevard because Darcie N. Negrete was wearing flip flops and cut her foot, according to the Chehalis Police Department. “Sounds like she was having a bad day,” detective Sgt. Rick McNamara said. Negrete was arrested for third-degree malicious mischief and then released to be taken to the hospital, according to McNamara.

TRESPASSER ARRESTED

• Police yesterday arrested a 37-year-old Centralia man, their suspect for for the incident early in the morning when a male apparently snuck through a window into an un-rented motel room on the 700 block of Harrison Avenue. John S. Youngbrandt was found behind the Goodwill store later yesterday and arrested for second-degree burglary, according to Officer John Panco. Nothing was missing from the room, according to police. Youngbrandt  was was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

THEFT

• A Stihl chainsaw and tools were stolen from a garage on the 100 block of First Street in Morton over the weekend, police reported yesterday.

• The Morton Police Department reported yesterday that somebody stole two soccer backstops/nets from the grounds at the grade school. Police were called on Tuesday morning about the theft. The loss is estimated at $80, according to police.

ASSAULT

• A 21-year-old being arrested yesterday afternoon for violating a protection order at the 1900 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia reportedly struggled with police and elbowed an officer in the face. Ryan M. Roundtree, of Centralia, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for third-degree assault, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Centralia police arrested a 20-year-old man yesterday they say assaulted his girlfriend and would not let her out of his vehicle, but then tried to run her down after she somehow exited the vehicle. Joel L. Kaech, of Salkum, was arrested in connection with the approximately 5:20 p.m. incident at the 500 block of South Tower Avenue, according to the Centralia Police Department. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree assault and unlawful imprisonment, according to police.

• A 34-year-old Toledo father was arrested yesterday for third-degree assault of a child after a deputy was dispatched to 1800 block of state Route 505 in Toledo about an incident. Robert F. Hofmann reportedly said he was trying to strike his 6-year-old daughter on the bottom with a belt, but ended up hitting her with the belt buckle on her upper leg, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. It left a bruise, and had occurred about two to three weeks earlier, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

DRUGS

• A 31-year-old Centralia man was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and heroin – and an outstanding warrant – after contact with police about 5:20 p.m. yesterday at Eureka and Noel avenues in Centralia, according to police. Ryan L. Lester was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

TRESPASS

• Centralia police were called to a motel on the 700 block of Harrison Avenue about 12:20 a.m. today where they learned a male subject had entered an un-rented room through a locked window but was scared away by an employee.

VEHICLE FIRE

• Fireifghters were called just after 4 p.m. yesterday to a car fire in the parking lot of the Lewis County Law and Justice Center on Main Street in Chehalis. Despite a good-sized column of smoke, the flames didn’t get far out of the engine compartment, as an employee from Grants Towing ran across the street with a fire extinguisher and put it out, according to Chehalis Fire Department Firefighter Kevin Reynolds.

CENTRALIA MOTHER ARRESTED FOR ASSAULTING INFANT

• A 4-month-old baby is hospitalized on life support and its mother, a Centralia woman, was arrested early this morning for second-degree assault of a child, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. Medics called about 1:30 p.m. yesterday to a home in Grand Mound to a child in distress took the infant to Providence Centralia Hospital, and then it was transferred to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma, according to sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Clark. The child has acute head injuries, Clark said. Detectives who began investigating late last night subsequently arrested Rachel Bryan, 20, of Centralia, he said. Clark said he believes the child is a boy, but wasn’t certain this morning. He declined to describe what detectives concluded about how the injuries occurred, except to say they developed enough information to determine the mother “need to go to jail for injuring the child.”

THREAT TO KILL

• A 50-year-old Onalaska man was arrested last night after he allegedly threatened to burn down the house and shoot the family of a 33-year-old Onalaska man. Deputies called shortly before 11 p.m. about a disagreement at the 100 block of Harvest Moon Drive arrested Michael A. Goad and booked him into the Lewis County Jail for felony harassment, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

THEFT

• Centralia police are investigating a case in which a Centralia resident yesterday reported they had accepted a job online as a so-called secret shopper and apparently been tricked out of some money. The individual had sent some money to the Philippines and also tried to cash some checks that were found to be no good, according to the Centralia Police Department. Further details were not readily available.

• Centralia police were called just before 8 p.m. yesterday about the theft of a bicycle from the 900 block of Johnson Road, the fifth such report from around town in just two days. Two bikes were reported stolen the morning before on the 800 block of North Tower Avenue and two others from the 500 block of South Cedar Street, according to the Centralia Police Department. In Chehalis, police were told yesterday that two bicycles had been stolen from a shed on the 100 block of Southwest Chehalis Avenue sometime since Sept. 13.

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported a 31-year-old Chehalis woman was arrested Monday in connection with a check stolen from a Chehalis man’s mailbox which was allegedly then forged and cashed. The woman had been contacted in Centralia by detectives there for investigation of theft and forgery, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said this morning. The court subsequently released her on the alleged Chehalis area incident, although she remains jailed for the Centralia crimes.

• Police were called just before 10:15 p.m. yesterday to a report of a an attempted vehicle prowl on the 900 block of Ham Hill Road in Centralia. A car alarm scared the subject off, according to police.

DRUGS

• Centralia police arrested a 18-year-old Centralia resident last night for possession of methamphetamine and heroin as well as outstanding warrants after contact just before midnight at the 400 block of North Pearl Street. Kyrsten R. Daarud was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

VANDALISM

• A deputy called to the 3900 block of Jackson Highway outside Chehalis yesterday was told someone had used a shotgun to shoot out the tire of a tractor there. The victim also found what appeared to be a bullet hole in a shop door, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

• Chehalis police were called at 6 p.m. yesterday about a brick thrown through the window of a business on the 200 block of Northwest Chehalis Avenue.

WRECKS

• The front license plate was left behind after a minor hit and run collision yesterday about 1 p.m. at the 3400 block of Harrison Avenue outside Centralia.

• Firefighters were called just before 10 p.m. yesterday to Ham Hill and Seminary Hill roads in Centralia where a car had crashed and caught fire. The white four-door sedan was upside down against the trees and fully engulfed in flames when they arrived, Riverside Fire Authority Capt. Ken Colombo said. They were able to extinguish the blaze and found nobody was inside the vehicle, according to Colombo. Responders searched the area without success, looking for any occupants who might have been ejected, he said.

• A 26-year-old Longview woman was airlifted to Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver after a vehicle versus tree accident last night in Randle that left her trapped for several hours, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The woman suffered head trauma and a broken leg, according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies and aid called about 10 p.m. to the scene at Forest Road 47 near Silverbrook Road found the driver, a 24-year-old man and another passenger, a 27-year-old man, both from Randle, outside the vehicle and disoriented, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. The men were taken to Morton General Hospital with head injuries, according to Brown. Brown said the driver had gotten into an argument with three individuals and drove away agitated before the crash.

• A 57-year-old Chehalis man was found to have suffered only minor injuries when firefighters responded to a log truck on its side Monday afternoon on Wildwood Road. The roadway was partially closed until 11 p.m. as responders dealt with a large load of wood “chunks” that spilled and had to be moved. He was cited for going too fast, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Courtesy photo by Michele Hulbert