Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

FROM THE COURTHOUSE

• Prosecutors yesterday filed charges against the Chehalis father accused of taking money from W.F. West High School’s senior class fund. Robert N. Downs Jr., 43, has been summonsed to appear in Lewis County Superior Court to face one count of first-degree theft and 14 counts of forgery, according to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office. Police began investigating in January following a complaint the account had less money in it than students’ parents thought there would be. Police last month said they discovered ^[1] the husband of a woman in charge of the money signed his wife’s name to 14 checks from the account he wrote out to himself, totaling $8,200. The wife replaced the money back into the account after she learned of the losses, according to the Chehalis Police Department. The fund comes from a tradition of parents collectively starting fundraising during their children’s freshman year to pay for graduation-related activities. Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said he believes more than $8,000 was stolen.

THEFT

• A chainsaw was stolen from a shop building on the 2400 block of Seward Avenue in Centralia, according to a report made to police yesterday morning.

• Police were called about 10:15 a.m. yesterday to the 1000 block of West Main Street in Centralia about the theft of a business check which was subsequently used to purchase more than $600 of merchandise in  Longview. Police have a suspect in mind and are investigating, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Chehalis police were called yesterday morning about a counterfeit $20 bill received by an employee at a business on the 1400 block of Louisiana Avenue. Officer Linda Bailey said an officer would have taken the currency for evidence and run its information through a U.S. Secret Service database to see if it a “known” counterfeit. When police have no local leads, they send fake bills off to the Secret Service, she said.

VANDALISM

• Centralia police took a report of graffiti on no parking signs at the 2200 block of North Tower Avenue at about 8:45 p.m. yesterday. Earlier in the afternoon, an officer was contacted a person’s fence on the 100 block of East Roanoke Street being tagged with spray paint.

• An officer was called about 9 a.m. yesterday to the 1300 block of Windsor Avenue in Centralia where a female said someone spray painted her car during the night.

VEHICLE VERSUS ELK

• Toledo area firefighters were called about 3:15 a.m. today when a driver on his way to work encountered a herd of elk crossing state Route 505 near Layton Road. Fire Chief Grant Wiltbank said the vehicle’s airbag deployed and the motorist was uninjured. One female elk was severely injured, according to Wiltbank.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for driving with a suspended license; reports of misdemeanor assaults, shoplifting; complaints of panhandlers near businesses, a person sleeping outside an apartment building who wouldn’t leave … and more.