Updated at 5:11 p.m.
FROM THE COURTHOUSE
• Centralia murder defendant Weston G. Miller pleaded guilty yesterday to four firearms charges to “clear up some issues” before his upcoming trial in the death of 43-year-old David Wayne Carson, according to Miller’s attorney. Miller, 30, remains charged with first-degree murder. His trial is scheduled in Lewis County Superior Court for the week of April 15. On March 13 of last year, Miller allegedly used a 9 mm pistol to shoot his house guest, who died at the scene. When detectives searched his home on B Street, they found a silencer, a laser site for a gun, a bullet-proof vest, a Walter 9 mm pistol, a Walter .22 caliber pistol, a Rohm revolver, a MAC-10 semi-automatic and a Winchester model 275 .22 caliber long rifle, according to charging documents. He is prohibited from owning firearms because of conviction two years earlier for domestic fourth-degree assault. Prosecutors dropped one of the gun charges because police were afraid to test fire one of the guns in order to prove it was functional. In a very brief hearing yesterday afternoon, Miller pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. The standard sentencing range for the offense is one to three months in jail. Neither attorney nor the judge made any mention of when he would be sentenced.
STOLEN STUFF
• A 59-year-old man from Eatonville contacted the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office yesterday after finding someone had broken into his weekend home (trailer) at the 100 block of Fairview Drive in Ashford since Monday and left with food, a microwave, a heater, a bandsaw and a propane tank.
• A Vader property owner called the sheriff’s office yesterday after she returned from her home in Nevada to discover someone had stolen numerous tools from a shed and items from her house during the past year while she has been away, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A family member currently lives at the home on the 200 block of Tara Lane, but an acquaintance is suspected of taking the items, according to the sheriff’s office.
• Chehalis police were contacted yesterday morning by a business on Northwest Louisiana Avenue about an employee allegedly stealing thousands of dollars by committing fraudulent refund transactions. The case is under investigation, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
• Centralia police took a report of an attempted vehicle prowl about 7:45 p.m.. yesterday at the 1000 block of North Scheuber Road. Someone damaged a lock to the car’s door but didn’t get inside, according to the Centralia Police Department.
WRECK
• A 17-year-old girl escaped serious injury but totaled her car early this morning when she missed a curve and collided with a concrete bridge barrier west of Chehalis. A deputy dispatched around 4:40 a.m. to the 100 block of Chandler Road learned the Centralia motorist suffered a possible injury from her seatbelt according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. She was cited for speed too fast as well as being behind the wheel between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. in violation of her intermediate license, according to the sheriff’s office.
ONE OF MEDICS FROM ADNA CRASH HEALING FROM CONCUSSION
• Lewis County Fire District 6 Firefighter-Paramedic Matt McCoy was off work for a couple of days after he and an AMR medic were tossed around inside the back of an ambulance during a rollover wreck early Friday morning in Adna. They were caring for a patient when the AMR ambulance left the roadway and rolled down an embankment on Twin Oaks and Cousins roads. District 6 Chief Tim Kinder this morning said McCoy got a slight concussion and also bruises on his lower extremities. He’s due to return back to work in a few days, Kinder said. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, with the help of the state patrol, is investigating the crash. A spokesperson for AMR said he believed the vehicle hit a soft spot at a curve and that while their two employees suffered minor injuries, the patient was strapped in tight, so suffered no injuries.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, shoplifting; calls about domestic dispute, misdemeanor assault, suspicious circumstances, found bicycle; report of stolen garbage can … and more.