A juvenile male from Centralia who allegedly threatened two people with a knife in separate incidents Monday morning has been arrested for alleged first-degree robbery and second-degree kidnapping.
The Centralia Police Department did not release the suspect’s name or age on Tuesday.
The first incident occurred at approximately 9 a.m. on Monday in the 2400 block of Borst Avenue, according to the Centralia Police Department. The juvenile reportedly approached a subject who was sitting on the ground at the bus stop, “made a few comments” to the subject, then walked away. The juvenile soon returned, allegedly “pulled out a knife and demanded the victim get up and go with him,” according to the Centralia Police Department.
“After being forced to walk a half of a block with the suspect, the victim told him she needed to catch the bus she was waiting for. The suspect agreed to let her leave and go back to the bus stop. The suspect fled the area on foot,” the Centralia Police Department stated in a news release.
About one hour later, the same juvenile suspect allegedly approached another victim in a parking lot in the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue, “pulled a knife on the victim and demanded items of value,” Centralia police stated. The suspect allegedly fled the area on foot after the victim gave him his belongings. Shortly after the robbery, the victim’s personal information was used to start making online purchases and personal contacts in the victim’s phone started to receive threatening email messages, according to the Centralia Police Department.
The juvenile allegedly threatened the contacts by saying he would have them killed if they did not provide the suspect with their credit and debit card information.
Officers from the Centralia Police Department “developed information” that led them to
believe the suspect lived in the 2700 block of Mt. Vista Road in Centralia, according to the news release. Detectives from the Centralia Police Department and the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team assisted officers in contacting the suspect at his residence, at which point the suspect was arrested for second-degree kidnapping and first-degree robbery.
Additional charges stemming from the email threats have been referred to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office, according to the Centralia Police Department.
“No further information is being released at this time,” the department stated in a news release Tuesday morning.
Centralia police encourage anyone with information about the suspect to call the Centralia Police Department at 360-330-7680 or Lewis County Communications at 360-740-1105.
