JURY TAKES LESS THAN 10 MINUTES TO DECIDE: GUILTY
• A jury today returned a guilty verdict in nine minutes for a Tumwater man who was caught in a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office sting operation in which he thought he was meeting a mother and her 13-year-old daughter for a sexual encounter but was instead met by waiting detectives, the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office announced today. Michael J. Eplett, 24, was found guilty of second-degree attempted rape of a child, according to a news release. He was charged with that crime in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis in May following his arrest. Eplett faces between 78 and 102 months in prison when he is sentenced.
RIVER RESCUE
• A woman was hospitalized after she was rescued from an inflatable raft on the Newaukum River late last night about halfway between Napavine and Chehalis. Chehalis Fire Department Capt. Kevin Curfman said she was wet and cold and basically unable to scale the steep bank to get herself out. She was alone, he said. Lewis County Fire District 5 was called about 9:45 p.m. and she was found near the 300 block of Newaukum Valley Road, according to fire Lt. Laura Hanson. Chehalis firefighters waded across the water and using ropes and equipment set up by District 5 retrieved the woman, Curfman said. She was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital shortly after 11 p.m. District 5 Firefighter Brad Bozarth said she was to be treated for hypothermia.
CAMPING TRAILER HOME DESTROYED BY BLAZE
• The interior of a small travel trailer where a man was living in Silver Creek was destroyed by fire yesterday. He wasn’t home when Lewis County Fire District 8 responded to the approximately 11:15 a.m. call. A neighbor saw the flames and put it out, according to District 8 Chief Dave DeBuhr. It happened in the 2900 block of U.S. Highway 12 near Gershick Road, where there is a small group of trailer homes, DeBuhr said. The chief said he didn’t know the cause.
POLICE OFFICER BLINDED BY FLASHLIGHT TASES MAN
• A Rochester man who yelled at a passing police car overnight and shined his flashlight into the officer’s eyes ended up getting Tased and arrested because he wouldn’t stop shining the light at the officer when told to do so, according to Centralia police. It happened just after midnight at East Summa and South Tower Avenue in Centralia after Adam J. Cantrell was seen coming out from behind some parked cars, police reported. The 26-year-old was booked into the Lewis County Jail for obstruction and disorderly conduct. Cantrell told police he did it because he didn’t know who it was the officer was, according to the Centralia Police Department.
CAR HITS PEDESTRIAN IN CENTRALIA
• Centralia police responded to a minor car versus pedestrian accident just before 11 a.m. yesterday near Harrison Avenue and Interstate 5. The pedestrian was unhurt and declined any aid, according to the Centralia Police Department.
CAR WINDOWS SMASHED
• Chehalis police were called overnight to the home where last weekend’s drive-by shooting occurred after somebody bashed out windows of a car parked there. Deputy Police Chief Randy Kaut said it appeared somebody used a metal bar and basically went around the 1999 Mitsubishi breaking its windows. Kaut said police are not sure if the 3:45 a.m. incident is related to what happened there on Southwest William Avenue early last Saturday morning.
• Centralia police were called about 7:40 p.m. yesterday to the 1400 block of Sunset Way where someone had broken the rear window of a vehicle inside a carport during the previous night.
THIEF RETURNS WALLET
• A woman whose wallet disappeared a week ago called police yesterday to the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia to say she discovered it on her front porch, minus her credit cards, identification and social security card.
VEHICLE SHOT WITH BB GUN IN CHEHALIS
• Chehalis police were called to Northwest Ohio Avenue yesterday morning where a man reported somebody somebody had shot his unoccupied vehicle with a BB gun.
CRASHES
• A driver escaped serious injury when his pickup truck crashed into a boat and at least one vehicle parked in a driveway at the corner of Jackson Highway and Jubb Road last night. Lewis County Fire District 5 was called to the scene just after 10 o’clock last night. Firefighter-EMT Kevin VanEgdom said the adult male declined aid.
• A motorcyclist was airlifted out of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest south of Randle yesterday after an accident that left him with back and chest injuries. Todd L. Warren of Issaquah was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries, according to authorities. It happened on Forest Road 25 just south of the 99 Road which leads to Windy Ridge, according to Randle Fire and EMS Chief Jeff Jaques. Aid was called about 2:45 p.m. The patient was flown from the Wakepish Snow Park near the scene, according to the chief. It actually happened in Skamania County, but the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office assisted because they are closer. The sheriff’s office listed the individual as 42 years old and the fire department had him down as 46.
• A 40-year-old woman and two teenage girls, all from Winlock, were hospitalized after a T-bone accident on Avery Road West and Highway 603 on Wednesday evening. Kathy Iverson was driving a Saturn and had turned onto Highway 603, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The vehicle was hit extremely hard, Chief Criminal Deputy Gene Seiber said. Lewis County Fire District 5 was called to the scene about 5 p.m. The adult patient was the only occupant of her vehicle and was fortunate, according to Firefighter Brad Bozarth. “If there would have been a passenger, the passenger would have been killed,” Bozarth said. Iverson was cited for failure to yield, according to Seiber. The sheriff’s office did not release the identities of the pair in the Volkwagen Beetle because they are juveniles.
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Sharyn’s Sirens was updated at 7:55 p.m. Friday Aug. 13, 2010
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