Grand Mound: Two-car wreck leaves 18-year-old dead

May 18th, 2017
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At the scene at Old Highway 99 near Oregon Trail Road / Courtesy photo by Thurston County Sheriff’s Office

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A teenage driver was killed in a head-on car crash last night in Grand Mound.

Responders called about 11:18 p.m. determined a man traveling north on Old Highway 99 near Oregon Trail Road in a maroon Ford Focus crossed the centerline and struck a southbound red Kia, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.

Firefighters used the Jaws of Life to access their patients,  according to West Thurston Regional Fire Authority.

The Kia’s driver, an 18-year-old female, died just as LifeFlight was landing at Rochester High School, according to authorities.

The other driver was injured and transported to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, West Thurston Fire Chief Robert Scott said.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Carla Carter indicated this morning the man, in his 20s or 30s, may have been impaired and an investigation into vehicular homicide is underway.

International sports gambling operation traced to Chehalis

May 17th, 2017
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By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The U.S. State Department helped local prosecutors track down a man wanted for allegedly running an illegal online betting website out of an office in downtown Chehalis.

When investigators were looking into the enterprise in the late summer of 2008, they learned that Ronald W. Ehli had moved to Costa Rica four months earlier, but they interviewed two of his employees at 34 N.E. Boistfort Street, according to court documents.

They learned he was using a bank in Minnesota, another bank in Chehalis and used website server services from a Centralia business, the documents relate.

“It’s an interesting deal,” Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said today. “There was a lot of money involved and we seized every nickel of it.”

Charges were filed in Lewis County Superior Court in the fall of 2008 but Ehli has just recently been taken into custody.

Meagher said the state department revoked Ehli’s passport and when he tried to travel to Nicaragua, where his wife lives, he was located. Ehli was brought to Florida and Meagher had him extradited from the Dade County Sheriff’s Office.

He was booked into the Lewis County Jail yesterday and brought before a judge this afternoon.

Judge Andrew Toynbee allowed him release pending trial on a $10,000 unsecured bond, defense attorney Kevin Nelson said.

Ehli, 58, is charged with second-degree professional gambling and also with unlawfully transmitting or receiving gambling information. Both are offenses with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

He has no known criminal history, according to Meagher.

Charging documents detail how a special agent at the Washington State Gambling Commission decided to look into Sportbetting.com to see if it had any illegal gambling activities in the state.

The agent, using an undercover name and an undercover Visa account, signed up, made bets and won several times, according to the documents.

Sportbetting.com is an Internet website that allows wagering on sports competitions, horse racing, casino games and poker. Its activities are not sanctioned by the Washington State Gambling Commission.

The documents go on to make the following allegations:

The agent received a payout for his winnings with a check drawn on Citizens State Bank in Clara City, Minnesota. It was signed by Ehli and the account belonged to EZPay Financial Services.

That business is a Washington state corporation registered to Ehli, who is listed as president, secretary and treasurer.

The two employees at the Boistfort Street office admitted to checking the email for updates and transferring money to Ehli’s account at West Coast Bank in Chehalis, then printing checks. There were four batches: for Canada, Mexico, International and United States. The computer was seized.

The computer’s server was located at Rainier Connect on Kresky Avenue in Centralia.

Ehli also owns a business called Outsource Printing, based in the same office on Boistfort Street.

Search warrants were served for electronic data from EZPay, West Coast Bank and Citizens State Bank.

It’s not clear if the two employees have been charged with any crimes.

Meagher said that the forfeiture of the business’s accounts was done by the Washington State Gambling Commission and amounted to almost $5 million.

The prosecutor’s office and the sheriff’s office applied to receive a portion of the money, to be used to investigate fraud, he said.

Nelson was appointed to represent Ehli. His arraignment is scheduled for Thursday of next week.

News brief: Mount Vernon murder suspect picked up in Centralia

May 17th, 2017

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A man wanted for a homicide in Skagit County was arrested this afternoon by Centralia police at a gas station on Mellen Street.

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Alberto F. Alaniz

Alberto F. Alaniz, 39, was wanted on a warrant for first-degree murder for a death that occurred on May 4 near Mount Vernon, according to the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office. He was described as recently acting erratic and using drugs and was believed to be armed, according to his wanted flyer.

He has ties here, Centralia Police Department Sgt. Kurt Reichert said.

Police got a phone call today from investigators telling them that Alaniz might be at the Chevron station on Mellen Street, Reichert said.

Reichert and two other officers caught up to him in a place where he really had no place to go, Reichert said.

“We went there and arrested him coming out of the bathroom,” Reichert said. “He didn’t fight or anything.”

He was booked into the Lewis County Jail and law enforcement from Skagit County was to come and pick him up, according to Reichert.

The Skagit County Herald reported last week that Alaniz is suspected in the homicide of 36-year-old Miguel Rene Felix. The two had previously lived together, according to the newspaper.

The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office indicated Alaniz previously lived a short time in Salem, Oregon, but his family moved back to Lewis County. He has ties to Mount Vernon, Chehalis, Centralia and Yakima.

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

May 17th, 2017
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BURGLARY ONALASKA

• A deputy was called to the 300 block of Carlisle Avenue in Onalaska after a 36-year-old man returned home to find furniture and other large items missing from his residence. It happened sometime between May 8 and yesterday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The victim is compiling a list of stolen property, according to the sheriff’s office.

THEFT CHEHALIS

• Chehalis police were called about 12:45 p.m. yesterday to the 1000 block of Southwest 20th Street following the discovery that a blue gas-powered water pump was missing from an apartment complex.

• Chehalis police were called yesterday evening about the theft of a license plate cover and bulb from a vehicle parked at a residence on the 700 block of Southwest 20th Street.

COMPUTER VIRUS ATTEMPTS FRAUD

• Centralia police report this morning they took a report yesterday of a bank fraud which was initiated by a computer virus on a home computer. The victim was able to contact his bank and stop the transaction, according to the Centralia Police Department. Police say the case associated with an address on the 900 block of West Chestnut Street is believed to have been hatched overseas.

AUTO THEFT

• A 27-year-old Toledo man was arrested yesterday morning for possession of a stolen vehicle after he was stopped by a deputy about 9:30 a.m. at state Route 505 and Camus Road. Lake A. Gregson said he had borrowed the car from a friend but the 1991 Honda Accord had been reported stolen to the Longview Police Department, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Gregson was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office.

HOMELESS CAMP CATCHES FIRE

• Firefighters called just after midnight when flames erupted beneath the southbound Interstate 5 onramp at exit 77 in Chehalis found three adults had been sleeping there, had a campfire and it spread to their belongings, according to the Chehalis Fire Department. “It was more than they could put out with the water they had,” Fire Capt. Ted McCarty said. The fire was extinguished and nobody was hurt, he said.

AND MORE

• And, as usual, other incidents such as arrests for drugs, warrants,  trespassing, probation violation, third-degree theft, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, dispute, civil issue, vehicle collision, shoplifting, sexual assault, suicidal person, suspicious circumstances… and more among 117 calls for local law enforcement and / or fire-emergency medical services in the 24-hour period ending about 7 a.m. today.

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CORRECTION: This has been updated to reflect that the burglary at the 300 block of Carlisle Avenue in Onalaska occurred between May 8 of this year and yesterday. Incorrect information had been provided by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

May 16th, 2017
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Updated at 10:57 a.m.

DOMESTIC ASSAULT

• Deputies were called just after 6 p.m. yesterday after a woman flagged down a passing vehicle at the 4700 block of Galvin Road to say her significant other had assaulted her inside their tent under the Chehalis River bridge, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The victim said Brian J. Elmore was upset because she was making noise and began to punch her in the face and head, leaving her with a cut on her right cheek and bruises, according to the sheriff’s office. A K-9 track was conducted without success but Centralia police eventually located Elmore farther up the road and took him into custody, Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said. Elmore, 36, from Centralia, was arrested for fourth-degree assault and booked into the Lewis County Jail, Breen said.

UNRULY PERSON

• A 54-year-old Chehalis man was arrested last night after calls from multiple locations in Chehalis about an individual threatening someone and then harassing and bugging customers, according to the Chehalis Police Department. It began downtown and then occurred also at a gas station and a retail store on Northwest Louisiana Avenue, according to police. The suspect allegedly also opened the door to his truck and damaged someone else’s vehicle in a parking lot, Chehalis Police Department spokesperson Linda Bailey said. James P. Sauter was booked into the Lewis County Jail for disorderly conduct, Bailey said.

BURGLARY AND THEFT

• Centralia police were called about 4:20 p.m. yesterday about a burglary at the 600 block of North Gold Street. Money was taken by a known suspect, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A deputy was called yesterday about a burglary to a shed at the 9000 block of U.S. Highway 12 in Randle where two Stihl chainsaws were missing, as was a green tool box containing chainsaw tools. The victim said he’d last seen them two weeks earlier, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. One of them was a model 044 and the other a 028, Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said.

• A garden hose was reported stolen from a yard at the 900 block of West Second Street in Centralia yesterday afternoon, according to the Centralia Police Department.

CAR PROWL

• Centralia police were called for a vehicle prowl about 1:15 p.m. yesterday at the 1200 block of West Main Street. A weed eater was missing from the back of a truck, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Centralia police were called about 9:40 a.m. yesterday about an overnight vehicle prowl at the 700 block of Euclid Way. Documents were stolen, according to the Centralia Police Department.

FAKE BILL

• A business at the 200 block of North Pearl Street in Centralia contacted police yesterday morning about a counterfeit bill found in the till.

DRUGS

• Two people were arrested for possession of methamphetamine after contact with police about 3 p.m. yesterday at the 1000 block of Eckerson Road in Centralia. Booked into the Lewis County Jail were David W Grace, 20, from Winlock and Sahvanna L Lewerenz, 19, of Centralia, according to the Centralia Police Department.

ON THE ROAD, OFF THE ROAD

• A 33-year-old motorist was arrested for driving under the influence yesterday morning after his car went into a ditch at the 100 block of Pleasant Valley Road near Winlock. Deputies arriving about 8:40 a.m. saw major damage to the front bumper of the car and contacted the driver at the hospital, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Casey D. Knox, from Bremerton, was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office.

AND MORE

• And, as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, third-degree theft, protection order violation, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, dispute, civil issue, disorderly person, vehicle collision, suspicious circumstances… and more among 134 calls for local law enforcement and / or fire-emergency medical services in the 24-hour period ending about 7 a.m. today.

News brief: Hypothermia took rural Chehalis man’s life

May 15th, 2017

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The elderly rural Chehalis man found dead in the woods near his home after not being seen for almost three days died from hypothermia, according to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.

Warren Neal, 87, was known for often taking walks in the areas around his residence, on the 100 block of Fircrest Road, south of Chehalis.

He was reported missing by family in the early morning hours of May 5 and discovered by search and rescue personnel the following afternoon along one of his commonly traveled trails, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said this afternoon it appears he may have become confused while out walking, there were no physical injuries, and it seemed he may have simply laid down at some point.

“The time frame from when he went missing was around the large rain storm we had,” Breen said.

Hypothermia can be a rapid onset and causes people to even become more confused, according to Breen.

Coroner Warren McLeod has ruled the death accidental. But the sheriff’s office is awaiting the results of tests and the conclusion of a final review before it completes its investigation to make sure they have looked at all angles of the case, according to Breen.
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For background, read “News brief: Elderly Chehalis man found dead in woods near home” from Sunday May 7, 2017, here

News brief: Chehalis car fire death still unresolved

May 15th, 2017

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County coroner said they have a tentative identification of the person found deceased inside a burning car in Chehalis the weekend before last.

Coroner Warren McLeod said the individual’s next of kin knows but a formal confirmation of who the decedent is will have to come from comparing dental records.

Police and firefighters called to the the scene off the 1900 block of Northeast Kresky Avenue early on the morning of May 6 didn’t know anyone was inside the car until after the fire was extinguished.

The 1992 Honda Accord was registered to a female who was not the victim, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

McLeod indicated the victim is a male. His cause and manner of death won’t be determined until the completion of further studies, according to McLeod.
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For background, read “Chehalis: Body in burned car remains a mystery” from Tuesday May 9, 2017, here