MAN BLAMED, ARRESTED FOR $10,000 MISSING CASH
• The 51-year-old man arrested Monday evening at his home on the 200 block of Young Road in Mossyrock for first-degree theft was picked up because he was suspected in an incident in which $10,000 cash went missing from his 89-year-old employer, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The theft victim, a Morton resident, had contacted the sheriff’s office on Aug. 25 and said he had $38,000 with him to purchase a new truck that day. He’d stashed the cash in what he thought was a safe place, in a tool bag behind the seat of his vehicle, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. He told a deputy he suspected Daniel S. Beaty, who he’d hired to do grounds maintenance, Brown said. A subsequent investigation showed Beaty used hundred dollar bills to purchase $200 in lottery tickets and cigarettes at a Morton service station, as well as paid his electric bill with hundred dollar bills, according to Brown. An examination of his bank account suggested Beaty’s spending habits had changed noticeably, Brown said this morning. Deputies couldn’t find Beaty until Monday, when they booked him into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office. He was also booked for first-degree trafficking in stolen property because he spent some of the cash on lottery tickets, Brown said.
POLICE: MAN TRIED TO SELL STOLEN GOODS
• A 21-year-old Centralia man was arrested yesterday afternoon in an ongoing case for alleged shoplifting at Wal-Mart in Chehalis and attempting to sell the merchandise to a video game retailer across the street. Aaron M. Perez was booked into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree trafficking in stolen property and charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with two counts of the same offense. A judge was told he works for and lives at housing associated with Reliable Enterprises, and earns less than $1,000 per month. Perez qualified for a court-appointed attorney and bail was set with an unsecured $5,000 signature bond.
JAIL ASSAULT BY PREGNANT WOMAN ALLEGED
• A judge was told today a 26-year-old pregnant inmate at the Lewis County Jail reportedly assaulted a number of corrections officers, even breaking someone’s finger. Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke asked for Felicia D. Lane to be held on $100,000 bail, even though he was not yet charging her with assault, but had charged her with possession of methamphetamine from her arrest yesterday morning at a Centralia motel. O’Rourke said he only learned of the jail incident late this afternoon. Lane, who is said to be seven and a half months pregnant, was brought to the courtroom in a wheelchair. Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler set her bail at $25,000.
FROZEN FOOD BANDIT
• Chehalis police were called just before 1 p.m. yesterday when someone came home for lunch and found a strange man rummaging through a freezer in the garage at a residence on Southeast Magnolia Drive. The intruder, who was a white male about 30 years old, took off running, according to the Chehalis Police Department. The resident said he had previously noticed a tool bag missing, according to police.
BREAK-IN AT AUCTION BUSINESS
• Centralia police were called about 8:45 p.m. yesterday to a burglary at an auction yard on the 1100 block of North Pearl Street. Some equipment and keys were missing, and a list is still being compiled of what was taken, according to the Centralia Police Department.
RECOVERED STOLEN VEHICLE
• A 2011 Hyundai Sonata stolen in December from a Shelton resident was reported found yesterday parked in a field behind a gas station at U.S. Highway 12 and Interstate 5, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
CAR PROWL
• Centralia police took a report about 2:30 p.m. yesterday regarding a car prowl at the 100 block of South Washington Avenue in which a purse was stolen from a locked vehicle.
VANDALISM
• Chehalis police were called about 7 a.m. today when an employee at the Holiday Inn Express discovered the window to her car shattered at the 700 block of Northwest Liberty Place.
• Police were called about 2 p.m. yesterday about a grave stone vandalized at the 1800 block of Van Wormer Street in Centralia. The complaint was turned over to the cemetery authorities, according to the Centralia Police Department.
WALKING IN THE ROADWAY LANDS WOMAN IN JAIL, AGAIN
• A 49-year-old Centralia woman was arrested for disorderly conduct around 11:20 a.m. yesterday when police discovered she was walking in the middle of the street at the 300 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia. Barbara A. Heppe was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.
WRECK
• A collision this afternoon on a state highway about 10 miles west of Hoquiam sent a 47-year-old Centralia resident to the hospital. Troopers called about 1:30 p.m. learned that Anthony M. Fruchella was traveling southbound on state Route 109 in a Ford Escort when a northbound pickup truck turned left in front of him. The Escort was described as totaled; the Chevrolet Silverado described as having “reportable” damage. The pickup driver, a 75-year-old Hoquiam resident, was uninjured, according to the Washington State Patrol.
AND MORE …
• And more, such as arrests for DUI, warrants, violation of no contact order; responses for possibly suicidal subject, fender bender, hit and run, misdemeanor thefts, threatening note left on a building, reported assault between two youths at Green Hill School; and complaints of cars idling or parking in no parking zones, as well as a trash can stolen one day and returned the following day … and more.