Lewis County Sirens.com

Gloria N. Iniguez Gonzalez sits with a Spanish-English interpreter as her companion (center) waits at their hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – For the second night in a row this week, Centralia police detective Chad Withrow pulled over a driver who failed to use their turn signal, and turned up a sizable amount of methamphetamine.

Like Tuesday when a pound and three quarters of meth was located in a vehicle pulled off Interstate 5 at the 13th Street exit in Chehalis, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Rick VanWyck arrived with his drug sniffing K-9 on Wednesday night to the parking lot at McDonald’s on Median Street.

According to court documents, Withrow and a second detective saw a vehicle approach them in the hours of darkness with only one functioning headlight. They followed and soon, it made a turn without using the blinker and was stopped for the infractions, the documents relate.

A man and a woman with a 1-year-old boy were asked to exit the vehicle.

According to VanWyck, the dog “alerted” on the trunk area and a request to the occupants to search was turned down, so Withrow secured a so-called telephonic search warrant, according to charging papers.

Discovered under the seat where the woman had been sitting, were three clear plastic bags, each containing approximately one ounce of a crystal substance that field tested positive for meth, according to the documents. Six hundred thirty-three dollars were found in a pouch behind the driver’s seat.

Both were charged yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court with possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver.

The driver, named as Eduardo F. Morales Martinez, 37, of Shelton, in court documents, was additionally charged with first-degree criminal impersonation.

“We don’t know who he is,” Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher told a judge yesterday afternoon. “He gave a couple different names that don’t check out in the state’s database.”

Meagher said he hoped to verify the man’s identity with fingerprints and asked for a no-bail hold.

Judge Joely O’Rourke set bail at $500,000, citing serious concerns about the identity issue.

Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello wrote that a more thorough check indicated Morales Martinez had prior convictions for delivery of a controlled substance and driving under the influence as well as multiple deportations and illegal entries.

Bail for the passenger, Gloria N. Iniguez Gonzalez, 38, of the Olympia area, was set at $10,000. Meagher and temporary defense attorney Rachael Tiller said she has no criminal history.

Her 16-year-old son and 19-year-old brother were on hand at the brief hearing yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.

Charging documents state that when the male driver was first contacted, he identified himself as Antonio Ortiz Hernandez and provided three Mexican ID cards that showed as such. One of them had a different birthdate than the other two, Masiello wrote in the affidavit regarding probable cause.

Upon further questioning and a look inside his wallet that turned up a bank card issued to Eduardo Morales, the driver said the card belonged to his son, according to the documents.

Masiello wrote that after the drugs were found and the two arrested, the driver said his true name was Eduardo Morales Martinez. His driver’s license was suspended.

The two were booked into the Lewis County Jail. Their arraignments are set for Thursday.

Hancel Zagal Alcaraz, 28, from Pasco, remains held in jail with bail set at $25,000, following his separate arrest on Tuesday night and a criminal charge filed on Wednesday in Lewis County Superior Court.

He was allegedly speeding, failing to signal lane changes and displaying no license plate or visible trip permit on northbound Interstate 5 when members of the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team pulled him over and asked him to move to the AM/PM at the 13th Street exit.

Charging documents in his case indicate Deputy VanWyck’s K-9 Axel detected controlled substances that led to a search of his vehicle.

His girlfriend handed over a brown tar substance wrapped in plastic along with two pieces of a crystal substance to detective Withrow, according to court documents.

Another detective found a coffee container that seemed heavier than it should be, reached into the coffee and located three large packages of a crystal substance, according to the documents. In total, they weighed 28.5 ounces and field tested positive as meth.

There is no indication the girlfriend was arrested.

Zagal Alcaraz allegedly told detectives the auto repair business he owns in Pasco is a front he uses to distribute controlled substances in Chehalis, Olympia, Tacoma and Everett.

He was charged the next day with possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver. Zagal Alcaraz has no felony criminal history in the state.

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For background, read “Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup – JNET: PACKAGES OF CRYSTAL METH HIDDEN IN COFFEE CONTAINER from Wednesday March 8, 2017, here

Crews work to extinguish fire on E Street yesterday afternoon. / Courtesy photo by Derrick Paul

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – An investigator is looking for the cause of a house fire that displaced a family of four in Vader yesterday afternoon.

Cowlitz-Lewis Fire District 20 Assistant Chief Ruth Crear said six other fire departments joined them at the home on the 800 block of E Street.

“It’s a total loss, the house and contents,” Crear said. “There’s nothing for them to salvage.”

The one and a half story residence was home to a couple, their grown son and their 16-year-old nephew, she said.

Crews were called at 3:16 p.m. after the teen got off a school bus and noticed fire in the back, and notified the two men who were inside, unaware anything was burning, according to Fire Investigator Derrick Paul.

Crear described the initial fire as outside a bedroom, but Paul’s understanding was the main part of the fire at first was in an adjacent shed and moved into the house.

A firefighter from Toledo was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with a leg or ankle injury, according to Paul. Nobody else was injured, Crear said.

The Red Cross was contacted to assist the family, who are staying with relatives in Vader, according to Crear.

Approximately two dozen firefighters battled the blaze, which re-ignited about 2 o’clock this morning.

“We were there eight hours the first time and two and a half hours the second time,” Crear said.

Kimberly J. McPherson waits as her conditions of release documents are signed in Lewis County Superior Court this afternoon.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Prosecutors have charged the driver in a fatal Christmas Eve wreck in rural Chehalis with vehicular homicide.

The passenger Thomas D. Lininger, 43, of Chehalis died at the scene of the single-car collision on state Route 508 near Forest-Napavine Road.

Four of his five children and other family members were present in the courtroom today when Kimberly J. McPherson appeared before a judge.

McPherson had been summonsed to Lewis County Superior Court. Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher requested McPherson be allowed to remain free pending trial, with a $25,000 unsecured bond.

Thomas Lininger and his children

He also asked the judge to prohibit McPherson from driving as a condition of her release.

Judge Joely O’Rourke asked if he had community safety concerns.

“I don’t want to hinder the taxpayers with medical bills or make it any more difficult with doctors,” Meagher said. “I am convinced if she doesn’t get behind the wheel of a car, everybody’s better off.”

Temporary defense attorney Rachael Tiller told the judge her client resides locally, has been evaluated at Eugenia Center and is actively involved in treatment. She also has surgery scheduled for tomorrow in Tacoma, Tiller said.

McPherson, 51, used crutches this afternoon and wore a slipper-type shoe on her left foot.

Prosecutors allege McPherson was under the influence of a drug or drugs the night of the accident.

Lininger’s sisters said the couple had just left a family dinner when it happened. Troopers and aid called about 8:40 p.m. on Dec. 24 found the two trapped inside the Honda Accord

“The investigation led the patrol to conclude the defendant drove straight off the road, through a grassy patch, striking a tree,” Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer wrote in charging documents. “There was no indication of any attempt to break (sp) or swerve to avoid the collision.”

Lininger died at the scene from head trauma, according to Meyer.

A trooper contacted McPherson at the hospital and a breath sample provided indicated she was not under the influence of alcohol, but she admitted to using controlled substances earlier in the day, according to Meyer.

Both methamphetamine and heroin were allegedly found in the car, and some meth inside McPherson’s purse, Meyer wrote. She is also charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of heroin.

Charging documents state the results of a blood test reveal the presence of meth, opiates and morphine, though the opiate-morphine result may have been from drugs administered at the hospital, according to Meyer.

Centralia attorney Don Blair was appointed to represent her. She has a conviction for second-degree robbery and a controlled substance violation from 1996, according to Meagher.

Judge O’Rourke ordered standard conditions of release and added further restrictions.

McPherson may not go within 30 feet of any bar or tavern, may not get behind the wheel of any vehicle, even a bicycle, O’Rourke said.

“I’m also adding you may not be outside your residence past 10 o’clock in the evening,” O’Rourke said. “Do you understand that?”

Troopers reported McPherson is a Centralia resident, but prosecutors show a Tenino post office box as her mailing address.

Lininger’s two sisters said outside the courtroom they felt satisfied with what they heard and understood it’s a slow process, but would rather authorities take the time and get it right.

Their brother’s death would have been less difficult if it hadn’t have been preventable, they said.

Vehicular homicide has a maximum penalty of life in prison and/or a $50,000 fine.  McPherson’s arraignment is scheduled for March 16.
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For background, read “Christmas Eve crash claims a life, south of Chehalis” from Sunday December 25, 2016, here