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Updated at 6:35 p.m.
INTERRUPTED BURGLARY MINERAL
• The owner of the Mineral Grocery store was summoned to his business on the 100 block of Front Street about 3 a.m. today by an alarm and caught a skinny young man inside stealing cigarettes, but the subject ran out the back door, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The 67-year-old chased the intruder down an alley, but lost him when he turned just past the bar, according to the sheriff’s office. The suspect is described as maybe 5-feet 9-inches tall with a scruffy little beard and in his late teens or early 20s. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.
BURGLARY CENTRALIA
• Someone pried open a back door at a second-hand store on the 500 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia and stole an unknown amount of money, according to the Centralia Police Department. An officer responded about 3:30 a.m. today and the investigation continues, according to police.
• Centralia police were called to the 400 block of West Center Street at about 4:50 p.m. yesterday following the discovery someone had stolen tools from inside a home that is being remodeled. There were no signs of forced entry and no suspect information at this time, according to the Centralia Police Department.
POSSIBLE CAR PROWLER
• Chehalis police were called about 4 p.m. yesterday to the 500 block of Southeast Washington Avenue where someone had broken the passenger door window to a car in the parking lot. Nothing appeared to be missing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
FRAUD
• Chehalis police were contacted yesterday by a 26-year-old resident who discovered a couple of thousand dollars worth of expenditures made on her credit card in multiple southern states by someone unknown. She had just returned to the area and it’s not clear where her card may have been compromised, according to the Chehalis Police Department. An officer took a report.
DOMESTIC ASSAULT
• A 48-year-old Randle man was arrested for second-degree assault and third-degree malicious mischief after a series of events reported by his girlfriend at about 1:30 p.m. yesterday. A deputy was summoned to the Randle fire station where the woman said the night before he had choked her and given her a black eye, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. She said she didn’t report it at the time because he threatened to take her dogs away, but as she was loading her truck and trying to leave, he allegedly jumped into the bed of the pickup and began throwing items out of it, according to the sheriff’s office. He also allegedly smashed her truck’s rear window. David R. LaChance and booked in to the Lewis County Jail, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said. Prosecutors declined to file the felony charge, but LaChance is scheduled to go before a judge today in Lewis County District Court instead.
SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
• Chehalis police responded just after 5 p.m. yesterday because someone called 911 to say they saw a male walking up McFadden Avenue from Southwest 11th Street swinging an ax around and whipping a bull whip. No such person could be found, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
AND FROM MORTON
• Morton police indicated on Monday they are still investigating incidents of four slashed tires on a vehicle from Sept. 15 at the 200 block of Jastad Road and another on Sept. 17 at the 100 block of Fourth Street. Also last week, an officer removed a marijuana plant found growing in a pot along the Tilton River.
ON THE ROAD
• A 67-year-old woman was arrested after allegedly backing up for an unknown reason at a stop light and hitting a vehicle, driving away and then striking another vehicle in a parking lot yesterday in Centralia. The first incident occurred about 1:30 p.m. at Harrison and Belmont avenues and the next at the 100 block of High Street by the Centralia Outlets, according to the Centralia Police Department. The license plate number of the suspect truck led to the registered owner’s residence, according to police. Judy M. Tokstad, 67, of Centralia, said she didn’t recall hitting any vehicles but was issued citations for hit and run, Officer John Panco said. She was then released.
• A 27-year-old Chehalis man is in satisfactory condition today at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after his car crossed into the oncoming lanes of a divided highway about three and a half miles south of Shelton yesterday. Troopers called at 1:20 p.m. to U.S. Highway 101 found that Caleb L. Simons’ 1984 Chevrolet Caprice had been northbound but drifted to the left, hit the cable barrier and continued through the median and struck the driver’s side of a southbound car, according to the Washington State Patrol. The Toyota Corolla was knocked about 30 feet down an embankment. Its driver, James E. Spear, 60, of Bellingham was wearing a seat belt and reportedly not injured but it’s unknown if Simons was wearing his seat belt, according to the state patrol. Simons was airlifted to the Seattle hospital. The cause of the collision remains under investigation, according to the patrol.
• A 19-year-old is in fair condition today after he wrecked a borrowed motorcycle yesterday afternoon at the 700 block of Highway 603 west of Chehalis. David Serrano Mosso was northbound traveling much faster than the 40 mph posted speed limit when he left the roadway at a curve going airborne, bouncing once, striking a fence post and landing about 100 feet off the roadway into a wire fence, according to responders. Aid and deputies responding to the approximately 2:45 p.m. call found him unconscious, according to the Chehalis Fire Department. The Centralia resident was wearing a helmet but it showed it took a severe blow, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The 1995 Kawasaki XZ 1100 was totaled, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said. Mosso was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital and is to be cited for several offenses including not having a motorcycle endorsement, driving with a suspended license and not using an ignition interlock device, according to Brown.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, dispute, child custody disagreement, collision on city street, report that a male carrying a gas can in a parking lot near Louisiana Avenue in Chehalis asked somebody for money, report that guys with sleeping rolls on their backs have been seen going into the woods around the Chehalis sewer plant and could even be cooking meth down there … and more.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter