Updated at 3:21 p.m.
ARSON INVESTIGATION
• Centralia police are investigating an incident last night in which someone tried to start a fire in a downtown building containing numerous upstairs apartment. Officers called about 8 p.m. to the 300 block of North Tower Avenue learned a resident heard a smoke alarm going off but said at first she ignored it because it occurs frequently from people cooking, according to the Centralia Police Department. However, when she finally went into the hallway, she saw a smokey haze and discovered a piece of paper burning inside an open light switch box, Sgt. Carl Buster said. She removed it and put it out, Buster said.
MISSING MEDS
• Centralia police were called about 9:20 a.m. yesterday to a report of the theft of a black bag containing medications from the 200 block of Railroad Avenue.
CAR PROWL
• A backpack containing an HP laptop computer was reported stolen from a vehicle parked at the 1100 block of Woodland Avenue in Centralia yesterday. The victim reported about 10:15 a.m. a window had been smashed out in the vehicle.
VANDALISM
• A 45-year-old Centralia man who left to cool off following a dispute yesterday reportedly then punched a dent into the side of a new truck at Main and Iron streets in Centralia yesterday morning. James C. Weatherford was cited for third-degree malicious mischief and then released, according to the Centralia Police Department. The damage is estimated at $500, police say.
UNRULY PATIENT
• A 48-year-old patient was arrested last night for two counts of third-degree assault after he allegedly took swings at medics who tried to prevent him from getting out of a moving ambulance. Darren L. Fullerton was intoxicated and began unstrapping himself, saying he had to urinate as the vehicle was northbound on Interstate 5 near Mellen Street, according to the Centralia Police Department. They pulled over and officers responded to the approximately 11:40 p.m. call, according to police. He was being taken to Providence Centralia Hospital after he was found sleeping on the ground at the entrance to the Airport Depot in Chehalis, police said. Fullerton was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to Centralia police.
MORE SEX CRIME ALLEGATIONS
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports the 22-year-old man arrested on Tuesday for an alleged sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl is now facing potential charges involving a second 15-year-old. Michael A. Ryan Jr. was booked into jail for three counts of third-degree rape of a child for instances occurring between August and December of last year, the sheriff’s office reported yesterday. This morning, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said detectives are referring information on the new case to prosecutors for evaluation of charges of two more counts of the same offense, occurring between August and October. The second girl also considered it a dating relationship, Brown said.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, obstructing, misdemeanor assault; responses for alarm, shoplifting, suspicious circumstances, report of child molestation that turned out to be unfounded … and more.