Updated at 12:53 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Centralia police made three more arrests yesterday after moving aggressively up the food chain to combat heroin overdoses and deaths in the community.
Officers raided a home about 9 a.m. on the 1000 block of Yakima Street and took two men and their mother into custody, but only found small amounts of a variety of suspected narcotics, according to the Centralia Police Department.
“Our primary suspect was in the bathroom flushing the toilet,” Centralia Anti-Crime Team Sgt. Jim Shannon said.
Among the drugs seized – found mostly in the shower area – were suspected heroin, Oxycodone, methamphetamine, hash oil and a prescription drug called Tramadol, Shannon said. About $460 cash was confiscated.
Sebastian Haller, 36, and his brother Arthur Haller, 32, were arrested on charges involving the distribution of meth and heroin to Centralia residents, according to police.
Fifty-nine-year-old Kathy Challender was arrested for maintaining a building for drug purposes, an offense she has been convicted of in the past, according to Shannon.
Police have served several warrants for felony narcotics at the same address over the past decade; the city is reviewing the case to determine if the property might be subject to seizure and forfeiture as a drug nuisance, according to police.
The search warrant served yesterday resulted from undercover buys, Shannon said.
The action is part of an undertaking that began in March targeting street-level and mid-level heroin suppliers because of the increase in the number of heroin and opiate related deaths over the past year in Lewis and southern Thurston counties, according to police.
Centralia police detectives are currently investigating at least two deaths that have been caused by heroin, Shannon said.
“There’s different types of heroin out there,” he said. “There’s tar and there’s powder, which seems to be more potent and is causing deaths.
“Aberdeen has a huge problem with it.”
What police care about is saving lives, Shannon said.
The most important thing Shannon wants members of the public to know today, is if a person is with someone who overdoses, they should get help immediately.
“I don’t want anyone to be afraid to call 911 because they think they’re gonna get busted,” he said. “That’s someone’s son, someone’s daughter. Sometimes you wouldn’t even know that person was addicted to opiates.”
Shannon referenced a recent case in which a boyfriend and a girlfriend were partying and he overdosed and she called 911.
“We got Riverside Fire Authority and they were able to administer a substance that counteracts it and he woke up,” Shannon said.
Officers didn’t arrest anyone, they just documented the incident and made sure there were no more drugs present, he said.
He himself has had to help save a life.
“It’s no fun doing CPR on somebody and waiting for aid to come and give them Narcan,” he said. “I mean, these people are dead. And AMR and Riverside brings them back.”
A lot of times, such an event is is a huge wakeup call prompting the person to get the help they need, he said.
It’s much worse for a witness of an overdose event if the subject dies and they didn’t call 911, Shannon said. Centralia police have successfully prosecuted controlled substance homicide in the past, he said.
Since mid-March, Shannon’s team has made 11 arrests for delivery. A small number more are expected out of the current investigation, he said.
Shannon said he wants to get the word out about the use and the arrests for drug dealing because it’s time now for others besides police to work on the problem.
“The police department is trying as hard as we can to do something about it,” he said. “The community also needs to think about what to do as well.”
Arrests of street level suppliers began in April.
On April 14, aid and police responded to to a residence on the 300 block of North Diamond Street and saved the life of a 26-year-old woman. The Anti-Crime Team investigated and arrested Christopher C. Lee, 25, of Rochester, for delivery of heroin as well as possession of methamphetamine.
While investigating further, the team arrested four more Centralia residents. They are Tyler Geist, 28; Sarah McCutcheon, 34; Jarrin Smalley, 21; and Brittany Cary, 25, according to the Centralia Police Department.
With information gained, the team began going after mid-level sources of heroin. Throughout, several search warrants have been served in Centralia and in south Thurston County.
On April 17, the team was led to the 17100 block of Sargent Road in Grand Mound, where they seized more than one quarter pound of heroin and about an ounce of methamphetamine, according to police.
Three individuals were arrested; they are Andrew T Field, 29; Alaina Normand, 24; and Terry Nelson-Rone, 44, according to police.
Field was under the supervision of the Washington State Department of Corrections and was sent directly back to prison in Shelton to serve time revoked for the new offenses, according to Shannon.
Then yesterday, the team, detectives and other Centralia officers went knocking on the door at Yakima Street, where they arrested the three.
Sebastian Haller was found guilty earlier this year for unrelated heroin charges and was out of custody awaiting sentencing, Shannon said.
If charged, the trio will appear before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court this afternoon.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
whats this State St about
Sebastian has never before been busted selling meth
@ Darren Hall…. I can see you have no heart, but did they forget your brain, as well?
Deaths from heroin number around 400 PER DAY nationwide. Heroin use has grown exponentially, and has not decreased one bit. That alone “should” be proof enough for those with a brain, that the method you propose won’t work.
Also – addiction is a disease (YES!! D I S E A S E) … you INHERIT the tendency to have it (just like diabetes and some cancers). Almost ALL kids try drugs and alcohol, so those who have the disease and try drugs or drink like their friends will have a different experience and will have MORE trouble quitting… if they even can at all.
If you, Darren Hall, REALLY want to eliminate the heroin users… go over to the middle school – yep, that’s right – over to those 9, 10, 11 and 12 years. Line them up and kill about ten percent of them. In fact, to be ABSOLUTELY sure…. you might want to shoot half of them.
Then YOUR world would be perfect… right?
I never pray that addiction develops in anyone… but for you, I would make an exception. May your children develop addiction – with any luck, during their middle and high school years when their brains are growing and will be most damaged.
And I prayer you get to stand by and watch helplessly while it ruins their futures, their lives, their families and you. Maybe, you will meet a judgmental, unfeeling, narrrow-minded jerk like yourself who proposes YOUR child should just be killed and gotten out of the way.
I cannot imagine a better future for you than this.
@ Darren Hall.
Sure. I believe that. You know someone of prominence. That in itself is hard to fathom. Next, you would have me try to believe said “business man” some how procured a batch of heroin. Not only that, but supposedly knew enough to get highly refined heroin, and knew enough to not cut it, and had the means to distribute it. Time to crack open another beer and settle in for some more quality “reality” true crime cable television –
Nomad, where are you getting this from? A statement like that deserves a source backup. If your right, damn, that’s not good….
Sebastian Haller was on probation when he was busted last year for selling meth. Now he’s beenbusted again. The legal system is a failure. The adress on State St. Is still selling meth and they have been for years now. The police know who the dealers are yet they fail to do anything about it in a manner that works.
Well I can’t say who was responsible but let’s just say that a prominent business owner in Longview whose daughter died from heroin has done it before and it eliminated 11 junkies.
I wish we could flood the streets with “hot” heroin & meth.
Cull the herd.
Ever wonder why that solutions has never worked in the past??
@Darren Hall
And, exactly whom would be the party responsible for; “throwing the hot batch onto the streets?”
I agree with Darren Hall.
If enough heroin users die in the process then the problem will take care of itself.
(It could also work with meth)
The police have let an informant go for every person they have put in jail in this operation. The informants are committing more crimes than the so called mid level dealers they have arrested. The cops have not made a single meaningfull arrest and conduct themselves very poorly. They must make a better showing for themselves.
Time to throw a hot batch out onto the streets. Enough OD deaths and maybe kids wont want to try it.
Excellent work Centralia P.D.!! You don’t get enough credit for the good work that you do.
Its about time.They been doing drugs d