Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Local firefighters and paramedics have been talking among themselves, wondering what’s up with drug overdoses.

In Centralia, Assistant Fire Chief Mike Kytta said responders have dealt with emergencies recently, including a pair of individuals at the same residence.

“Within the last week, we’ve answered three EMS calls for patients that may or may not have been attributed to heroin overdoses,” Kytta said on Wednesday. “We can’t say in the field for sure, the hospital will do that.”

None of them were reported to have subsequently died.

Paramedics can and do use a drug called Narcan that quickly counteracts the effects of depressants, according to Kytta.

“Within a matter of literally minutes, you’ll see an unconscious, unresponsive person start to awaken and their respiration will increase; they’ll appear relatively normal,” Kytta said.

The three cases Kytta spoke of all occurred last Friday and Saturday, and if indeed they were all related to heroin, that would be a high occurrence rate in a short period of time, he said.

Kytta, the assistant chief for Riverside Fire Authority which covers the greater Centralia area, said he wasn’t able to talk in much more detail about their medical calls.

A Centralia Police Department spokesperson said this week he was aware of one recent case where the fire department was called to what might have been a drug overdose. Officer John Panco said police wouldn’t necessarily be able to say if there was more than the usual number of incidents, as the fire department handles them.

Centralia police Sgt. Jim Shannon, who supervises the department’s drug enforcement team, said heroin use in the area is definitely on the rise.

“Methadone is big as well,” Shannon said.

Shannon said Oxycontin was very popular for a long time and a lot of young people got hooked.

All three drugs are central nervous system depressants and users may prefer one, but might choose another depending on availability, according to Shannon. Oxycontin has become harder to come by, he said.

What he and his officers find in Centralia is black tar heroin, he said.

“It’s readily available, it cheaper, it’s easier to get,” Shannon said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Robbie Russell’s troubles over the past 18 months were wrapped up into one plea agreement which is sending him off to prison with a six-year sentence.

Robert Shawn Russell

The 47-year-old until yesterday was facing charges in multiple cases, three involving methamphetamine and one in which a fellow defendant has since been slain.

The earliest case is from June 2009 when Russell and David West Sr. of Onalaska were accused of ambushing several teenagers camping outside Winlock. Russell allegedly brandished a handgun and fired a shot during the incident. It was allegedly about West Sr. trying to retrieve money that was stolen from him.

West Sr, his 16-year-old son and a friend were fatally shot in August inside West’s home. Two other men are awaiting trial in that case.

Robert Shawn Russell was out on bail when last May, police got a tip sending them to Russell’s Centralia home where they found enough methamphetamine and other items that he was charged with possession with intent to deliver drugs, according to a court file.

He was out on bail when a month later he was stopped by Centralia police and arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm. Police Sgt. Pat Fitzgerald said at the time he also found in the car an amount of methamphetamine large enough it could be moulded into a clump the size of a tennis ball.

He was out on bail in August when the triple homicide occurred in the Salkum-Onalaska area and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office decided Russell was a “person of interest” in the case.

Within a week, Russell was brought into the jail on a warrant, and because his bail bondsman decided to revoke his bonds. John Wickert, owner of Jail Sucks Bail Bond Co., said he didn’t want to be involved with Russell anymore.

Two months ago, authorities said they traced a golf ball-sized chunk of methamphetamine found inside the Lewis County Jail back to Russell. He was charged with delivery of a controlled substance.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said today the plea agreement was a good way to resolve the cases.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt yesterday sentenced Russell to six years in prison.

While Russell pleaded guilty to several crimes for which he got lengthy sentences, under the law they are to be served concurrently. Deputy Prosecutor Steve Scott handled the sentencing hearing. Scott said:

For delivery of methamphetamine in the jail, 72 months.

For possession with intent to deliver in Centralia from May: 72 months. Also, 24 months for a simple drug possession from another date.

For possession of methamphetamine from the June traffic stop: about 24 months, Scott said, as well as 90 days for driving with a suspended license.

For the June 2009 camping incident: 60 months. Scott said Russell pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree assault, one count of unlawful imprisonment and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

Meagher said prosecutors agreed to reduce the charges from the June 2009 case for several reasons, including one of the witnesses is dead, some of the witnesses are on “runaway status” and authorities didn’t have the firearm in question.

“To go all the way on that, we just faced some challenges,” Meagher said.

Is Russell still a so-called person of interest in the August triple homicide?

Meagher today said yes.

Authorities have not suggested Russell was present at the shootings, and Russell has not been charged in connection with the case.

Meagher said they’ve looked into “links”, but “at this time, I don’t have any evidence that he was.”

Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield said this afternoon whether Russell is still a person of interest in that case is a better question for Meagher.

Sheriff Mansfield offered some farewell thoughts however:

“He’s going away for six years and all I can say is if I’m still sheriff in six years, when he gets out, we’ll be there watching him.”
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Read about the June 2009 camping incident and what authorities said about Russell shortly after the triple homicide from Thursday Aug. 26, 2010

Read about Russell’s capture by a bail bondsman from Monday Sept. 6, 2010

Read what Russell said about how the methamphetamine got inside the jail from Saturday Oct. 9, 2010