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News brief: Local oxycodone dealer goes back to prison

Updated

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The accused prolific local trafficker of pain medications was sentenced yesterday to 12 years behind bars, following a plea deal that helped him avoid a third strike and a life sentence.

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Forrest E. Amos,

Forrest E. Amos, 31, has been held in the Lewis County Jail since late last year when he was released from prison and charged with a multitude of offenses based on a lengthy investigation by Centralia police.

He originally faced 26 varied charges including leading organized crime, but on July 31 pleaded guilty to 14 offenses. Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead dropped the charge of organized crime.

Halstead also dismissed four counts of intimidating a witness, in a case from this summer in which Amos was suspected of planning from inside the jail to have associates hurt or pressure witnesses against him.

Law enforcement estimated that in 2011 when Amos was aggressively dealing Oxycodone, that he was the main supplier of the synthetic opiate within Lewis County, possessing and dealing thousands of pills a month. Charging documents outlined how Amos reportedly continued to traffic drugs to the outside through others from behind prison walls.

Amos’s second strike came for shanking a fellow inmate while he was in prison for his first strike, taking part in the beating of a man to steal his marijuana  and pistol in the year 2000 when he was 16 years old, according to court documents.

The former resident of Napavine and Chehalis agreed not to appeal his convictions or sentence in any way, according to court documents.

Among the crimes to which he was sentenced were delivery of  Oxycodone while incarcerated during 2013 as well as during 2012 before he was locked up.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey signed an order that included one year of supervision following his release, as well as numerous financial legal obligations including repaying $13,800 for his court-appointed attorney Don Blair.

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For background, read, “Police: Organized crime defendant created ‘hit list’ of key witnesses” Thursday June 19, 2014, here [2]