EXPLOSIVE DEVICE PLANTED IN ROCHESTER CAR
• Detectives will be closely examining a Volkswagen Jetta and interviewing its owner further after yesterday’s find in Rochester that someone had planted an explosive device in the gas tank. Deputies and a bomb squad were called about 11:30 a.m. yesterday to the 7700 block of Oakberg Lane Southwest after the 33-year-old Rochester woman found wires coming from her car’s gas cap area leading to the ground and around the corner of her home, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. The bomb technicians used a robot to pull the wires out and found nothing attached to that end, sheriff’s Lt. Greg Elwin said. There was nothing at the other end either, he said. However, when they put a camera inside the fuel tube to the tank, they discovered burned residue, suggesting an explosive had actually been activated, he said. It’s not entirely surprising the car didn’t’ blow up when the device activated, as specific conditions of oxygen and fuel vapors may not have been present, according to Elwin. The woman told investigators she couldn’t think of anyone who would want to hurt her, according to Elwin. She’s not a celebrity, a VIP or a government employee, he said, just a regular person. The car was impounded.
THEFT
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a break-in to a store in Randle in which an unknown number of lottery tickets and some $700 of cigarettes were stolen. A deputy called yesterday morning to Gene and Barb’s grocery on the 9000 block of U.S. Highway 12 found a small window had been broken through which the intruder entered, according to the sheriff’s office. Video images from the store will be used to try to find a suspect, the sheriff’s office reported.
• Police were called yesterday evening to the 100 block of Northeast Cascade Avenue in Chehalis by a man who said he discovered jewelry, a camera and a printer missing from his apartment. The resident had someone watching his home after he was arrested and when he got out of jail, the items were gone, according to Chehalis police.
• Centralia police were called yesterday morning to two vehicle prowls in which purses were stolen. The first was on the 500 block of West First Street and about an hour later, another was reported on the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue, according to police.
DRUGS
• A 57-year-old man from Edmonds was arrested late yesterday afternoon for a warrant and possession of methamphetamine, according to Centralia police. Robert A. Russeff was booked into the Lewis County Jail after contact with officers at the 400 block of North Pearl Street in Centralia, according to the Centralia Police Department.
THURSTON DEPUTY ASSAULTED
• A 31-year-old Tenino-area man was arrested yesterday afternoon for third-degree assault of a deputy after he allegedly pushed the deputy on the chest, flicked him on the side of the head and then ran into a bedroom and closed the door. Thurston County deputies were assisting Tenino police in removing Daniel A. Hinkle from a home in Rainier when he was served with a domestic violence protection order, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff’s Lt. Greg Elwin said Hinkle said he knew right away he shouldn’t have done that, but by that time it was too late, Elwin said. Hinckle was arrested and booked into the Thurston County Jail.