HOME ALONE
• A Centralia mother was arrested overnight when she reportedly left her 3-year-old child home alone and went to the Lucky Eagle Casino. Centralia police said Tanna M. Novak, 25, left her home on the 1400 block of View Street in Centralia about 11 p.m. Tuesday. The father arrived there about 1 a.m. to pick up the girl and nobody answered his knock on the door, according to the police department. When he saw the toddler unclothed and uncovered asleep on a hide-a-bed in the living room, he called police, Officer Ruben Ramirez said. “The door was unlocked and anybody could have come in,” Ramirez said this morning. Police called Novak and asked her to return to the home. She said she had left her 29-year-old brother in charge, but he was sleeping in a detached garage on the property, Ramirez said. Novak was arrested for reckless endangerment and then released. The girl went home with her father, according to Ramirez.
WINLOCK PAIR JAILED FOLLOWING ATTEMPT TO CASH FAKE MONEY ORDER
• Two Winlock residents were arrested yesterday for allegedly trying to cash a counterfeit money order at Wal-Mart in Chehalis. Police were called to the retail store on Northwest Louisiana Avenue about 3:40 p.m. because an employee was suspicious about the $875 money order, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Daniel L. Smith, 43 and Katherine D. Smith, 40, were arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail for forgery, according to detective Sgt. Rick McNamara.
GUNS
• Police arrested and booked Robert S. Russell, 46, of Centralia, for unlawful possession of a firearm last night on the 900 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia.
• A .22 caliber rifle, an old 9 mm handgun with a picture of its owner on its handle and at least one other firearm were reported missing yesterday, taken from a home on the 1400 block of Lewis Street in Centralia while the resident was on vacation, according to Centralia police.
BREAK-INS IN CENTRALIA
• Centralia police took a report just before 10 a.m. yesterday of a break-in to a residence in which somebody cut the phone lines and disabled the burglar alarm on the 800 block of Rainier Avenue. The subject apparently crawled through a small hole beneath the home and got into the garage, according to police. Nothing seemed to be missing, according to the report.
• Centralia police were called just before noon yesterday to a home on the 1300 block of Rhobina Street where somebody had entered through a window and rummaged through several boxes.
CARS TRASHED AND PROWLED
• Centralia police responded to three vehicle prowls yesterday, the first on the 600 block of H Street in which a stereo was taken. Four hours later, police were called to the 900 block of G Street where two vehicles were broken into. Missing were a wallet and some change, along with an iPod charger and connector, according to police.
• Several windows were broken out of a vehicle on the 1100 block of Woodland Avenue in Centralia, according to a report made to police about 11:10 a.m. on Tuesday.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter