Updated at 6:41 p.m.
BANK ACCOUNT ACCESSED, AFTER TEXT
• A 55-year-old Chehalis woman who responded to a text message purportedly from her credit union found herself a theft victim, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Department spokesperson Linda Bailey said the woman had previously received a text message from WSECU telling her of a problem with her account and that she needed to call right away. She called and gave them all her banking information, Bailey said. She contacted police yesterday to report approximately $2,000 was stolen from her account, Bailey said. An officer took a report and gave her a case number so she could complete her paperwork for the bank, Bailey said.
MISSING PICKUP TRUCK
• A deputy took a report yesterday morning of a brown 1990 Chevrolet pick truck stolen from the 2100 block of Taylor Street in Centralia. The 24-year-old owner said when he woke up about 7 a.m., the vehicle was gone, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The four-wheel drive truck valued at about $3,000 was taken sometime after 8 p.m. the night before, according to the sheriff’s office. Its license plate is B62616V, Chief Criminal Deputy Stacy Brown said.
OTHER THEFT: GUNS
• Several firearms were among the items stolen from a storage unit at the 800 block of North Tower Avenue, according to a report made to Centralia police yesterday.
OTHER THEFT: TOOLS
• A deputy took a report yesterday from the 300 block of Brown Road East regarding about $850 worth of power tools that went missing between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. last Friday. The victim suspects an individual that he knows and the case is under investigation, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
• Centralia police took a report from the 1200 block of Marion Street about 9:25 a.m. yesterday of a toolbox stolen out of a carport.
OTHER THEFT: MAIL
• Chehalis police took a report on Monday morning from the 100 block of Northeast Hillside Drive that mail was stolen from a mailbox. The victim found its door open and the inner locking door open as well, and no mail, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
ARREST FOR SEX CRIME
• A former Chehalis resident picked up by police in Seattle yesterday was ordered held on $50,000 bail following information revealed last month by his now-5-year-old son he was raped while the family lived at the Chehalis Avenue Apartments about two years ago. Norman P. Gastfield was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail, charged in Lewis County Superior Court today with rape of a child in the first degree. Charging documents indicate the child’s mother contacted police on March 12, the same day the boy told her of something had happened in the past. A forensic interview was then conducted, during which the boy said his dad also let him watch “corn” and there were naked girls, as well as threatened to kill his mother if he told, charging documents state. Charging documents allege the incident occurred sometime between Jan. 1, 2012 and April 1, 2013. The family has since moved away and are separated or divorced, according to authorities. Gastfield had an address in Port Angeles, although police said he was most recently living as a transient in Seattle. His arraignment is scheduled for May 1, where he will be represented by court appointed attorney David Arcuri.
VANDALISM
• Police were called about 7:30 p.m. yesterday regarding a razor found stuck in a tire as it was getting repaired from a Ford Explorer which had been parked at the 700 block of Northwest St. Helens Avenue in Chehalis.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving with suspended license; responses for shoplifting, semi truck into a ditch … and more.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter