Man Accused of Shooting Centralia Motel 6 Door Sentenced

Posted

The Lakewood man arrested for allegedly shooting the door of his Motel 6 room in Centralia with a stolen firearm in February has pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and has been sentenced to three-months’ imprisonment, with credit for 50 days already served.

Two counts of possession of a stolen firearm and one count of possession of a controlled substance were formally dismissed.

Cesar Emiliano Soria entered an Alford plea — a plea in which the defendant maintains their innocence but admits that the prosecution’s evidence would likely result in a guilty verdict if brought to trial — for the two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm in Lewis County Superior Court on March 24.



Judge J. Andrew Toynbee additionally imposed fines and fees as part of Soria’s sentence, with payment to begin 60 days after his release from custody.

Soria was arrested after police responded to a 10 p.m. call on Feb. 2 from Soria claiming “that someone at the motel was trying to kill him,” according to the affidavit of probable cause. Officers noticed bullet holes in the motel room’s door and upon contacting Soria, he allegedly admitted that “he shot the door because he was afraid of people he thought were outside the door” and revealed that he was in possession of two firearms — a 9mm pistol and a 12-gauge shotgun — that he was legally prohibited from having due to previous felony convictions.

Soria is currently serving the remainder of his jail sentence at the Lewis County Jail.