[1]Randall D. Mauel, right, looks to his lawyer Don Blair during his sentencing hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – When police found a backpack containing a one-gallon freezer bag nearly filled with chards of meth and more than $11,000 worth of heroin inside a south Chehalis home in December, they didn’t have the authority to enter the house.
So say lawyers in the case of the Mauel brothers, two men arrested and charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, as well as unlawful use of a building for drug purposes.
“There was an issue with the search warrant affidavit, which would have been extremely difficult for the state to overcome,” Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello said yesterday.
Randall D. Mauel, 43, was in Lewis County Superior Court with his attorney, following a plea agreement which would send him to prison for a year and a day.
The raid that took place on Dec. 9 at the 2500 block of Jackson Highway came out of fast-moving investigation by the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force. The Lewis County Regional Crime Task Force and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team assisted, contributing about half of the 14 law enforcement officers that swarmed the residence.
Centralia defense attorney Don Blair told the judge a problem with the affidavit was an understatement.
Mauel pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon to two counts of drug possession, admitting he had drugs.
Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey agreed with the recommended time, and read off a list of 16 previous felony convictions, mostly involving drugs, on the defendant’s record.
The judge was told he will be also doing two years for a Thurston County conviction that followed his March arrest in Tenino when detectives reportedly found nearly $10,000 cash in his wallet, along with a little more than an ounce of methamphetamine and a small amount of heroin.
Masiello said the case of Ryan G. Mauel, the younger brother was resolved a few months ago, with a few months of electronic home monitoring, if he recalled correctly.
The sheriff’s office describes them both as Chehalis residents. When the brothers were charged in December, the judge was told the house belonged to their parents.
“We’re trying to get the best outcome we could possibly get,” Masiello said after the hearing.
Without the drugs available as evidence, the case essentially goes away, he said.
He explained the issue of the search warrant this way: When using an informant, they needed to establish the informant saw what they saw and that the informant was credible, he said.
When the Thurston County drug task force officer made a recorded request by phone to a judge, the officer didn’t really address the veracity part, other than saying, we’ve used this person before, he said.
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For background, read “Two charged with drug dealing, two set free after Chehalis area raid” from Wednesday December 11, 2013, here [2]