[1]Judy Chafin looks over sentencing documents with her lawyer Sam Groberg in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Chehalis woman who operated halfway houses in Lewis County for newly released prisoners and homeless persons is entirely done with that mission, she says.
Judy Chafin was sentenced yesterday morning to 30 days of house arrest, for a prescription drug possession offense she says was simply an oversight on her part.
As she nears the end of numerous actions against her from various governmental authorities, she says she feels horrible.
“I didn’t expect to have a felony at age 62,” Chafin said after leaving the courtroom. “I live like a Christian, so this is like a slap, a big slap.”
Chafin began to get a lot of attention from law enforcement and then city and county officials beginning about two years ago when residents on a rural Chehalis road complained they didn’t want multiple felons, especially registered sex offenders, living together under one roof in their neighborhood.
Chafin owned what she called the House of the Rising Son in Chehalis and managed other similar homes in Centralia and out in the county on Nix and Clark roads. Except for the Chehalis house, a former church, she sub-leased the rentals to people she found who needed assistance getting back on their feet after they’d done their time in prison.
She described the home owners as individuals who got tired of renting to drug addicts, and made her number one house rule as no drugs or alcohol.
The city of Chehalis and Lewis County began filing zoning and health code complaints against her facilities. Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield vowed to do everything he could to shut her down, including getting new ordinances crafted and writing a letter when he was able to find out who it was in the prison system who was working closely with Chafin.
Last spring, as Chehalis police investigated her ex-husband in connection with suspected sales of hydrocodone, they ended up arresting him and Chafin during a traffic stop.
She was charged with possession of seven and half pills of morphine, with delivery of drugs and with a forgery count. By the time her trial began last week, prosecutors had dismissed all but the possession charge. A jury found her guilty during the one-day trial in Lewis County Superior Court.
Defense attorney Sam Groberg told a judge yesterday his client is the primary caregiver for her infant great-grandchild and has no criminal history.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Eric Eisenberg told Judge Lawler that because there were so many allegations swirling around, he wanted to ask for a month-long sentence in the jail, but since Chafin has health issues he recommended instead two months of so-called electronic home monitoring.
“I’m aware the state had a lot of allegations, but those things were not proved, not charged,” Lawler said. “There’s no reason to treat this case differently than any other.”
What the jury heard at trial, was the bottle of hydrocodone in Chafin’s purse was prescribed to her. The morphine pills found in her purse had been in there for some months, and belonged to a former housemate.
Chafin said she called a probation officer on the housemate for misusing his medicine, and after he was taken to jail, the pills were left out in a common area. She scooped them up because she had a grandchild in the house, she said. And they ended up in the zipper part of her purse.
“That taught me a lesson, to never hold anything for anyone,” she said. “It shouldn’t be illegal to do something normal in your own home for safety.”
The attentions she’s gotten from police is all about her now ex-husband, she says.
“The thing is, I don’t do illegal drugs, I don’t sell illegal drugs,” she said.
Lawler also ordered Chafin to pay $3,500 in fees, be subject to community custody for one year after serving her time and to get a drug and alcohol evaluation and abide by its recommendations.
“You’ve probably figured this out, but you’re under a lot of scrutiny from law enforcement,” Lawler told her. “If anything is going on, you need to stop, you need to distance yourself from some people.”
She continues to live at the Chehalis home she owns, with family only, she said.
The various other houses are no longer operating and she quit her involvement in that mission months ago, she said. She chose not to fight the various zoning actions. She found places for the occupants, and prays for them every day, she said.
Chafin says she still feels its much safer for the community for registered sex offenders to have a roof over their head, as opposed to being turned out to the streets where they are more difficult to keep track of. Her zeal came from a relative who was victimized, she said.
“I believe the state needs to provide for that,” she said.
Still pending, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries announced in September that following an investigation, Chafin was charged with wrongly collecting benefits since 2006 for an on-the-job injury from when she was a caregiver at Tiffin House in Centralia.
Although she submitted claims stating she could not work, L and I contends Chafin was working when she operated the House of the Rising Son and other homes for released prisoners and homeless persons.
She remains charged with 30 counts of forgery and one count of first-degree theft.
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For background, read:
• “Discord on Nix Road: Newest arrivals unwelcome” from Saturday March 3, 2012, here [2]
• “The backstory: Intelligence gathering, possible fines and code enforcement tools “not normally used” from Sunday March 4, 2012, here [3]