The suspected getaway driver in the December 2024 burglary of a marijuana store in Centralia has been arrested and charged.
Vinnu Nicholas Ngeth, 20, of Auburn, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail at 3:50 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9, following a year-long investigation led by the Centralia Police Department.
Ngeth was charged Wednesday in Lewis County Superior Court with one count each of first-degree malicious mischief, first-degree theft, first-degree organized retail theft and second-degree burglary.
Each charge carries an “accomplice liability” qualifier, meaning that he allegedly acted as either the principal or the accomplice of another person in the commission of the crime.
Ngeth was allegedly one of four suspects involved in the December 2024 burglary.
At about 3:58 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2024, Centralia police were notified of a burglary alarm at Uncle Ando’s Wurld of Weed in the 1900 block of Johnson Road. Camera footage at the store reportedly showed a vehicle that had been backed through the front window and was left running inside the store. Three suspects were seen running away from the building with bags, according to court documents.
Officers who processed the scene determined that the suspects had stolen roughly $28,000 worth of marijuana products and had caused at least $2,000 worth of damage to the store.
Investigators determined via surveillance footage and cell tower records that at least three vehicles and at least four suspects were involved. All four suspects were wearing gloves and masks, according to court documents.
In January 2025, the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office notified a Centralia detective that a similar crime possibly involving the same suspects had just occurred in their jurisdiction.
In that case, law enforcement personnel were able to pursue and arrest Ngeth, who was driving a vehicle similar to the one used in the Centralia burglary, according to court documents.
He reportedly posted bail on the Cowlitz County case “quickly” and “was not contacted for an extended period of time due to other priority cases,” according to court documents.
A Centralia detective reportedly contacted Ngeth by phone on Nov. 4, 2025, and questioned him about the December 2024 burglary.
During the conversation, Ngeth allegedly admitted to being the getaway driver during the burglary, saying he agreed to be paid in either cash or marijuana. He allegedly said that he met the other suspects via social media and had bought marijuana from them in the past, according to court documents.
The detective was reportedly unable to contact Ngeth between Nov. 4 and Dec. 9, when the detective went to Federal Way in an attempt to locate Ngeth.
Law enforcement personnel located Ngeth and he was arrested.
When questioned after his arrest, he allegedly confirmed much of the information from the Nov. 4 phone conversation, but “would not provide clear answers about how the plan started or who initiated the burglaries,” according to court documents.
Ngeth’s Cowlitz County case was still active at the time of his arrest for the Lewis County charges, and multiple other jurisdictions are looking at Ngeth for similar offenses, according to a Lewis County deputy prosecutor.
While Ngeth has no convictions on his record, Judge J. Andrew Toynbee acknowledged the pending Cowlitz County case and the similarity to the Lewis County case when setting Ngeth’s bail on Wednesday, Dec. 10.
He chose to grant the prosecution’s request for $50,000 bail.
An arraignment hearing was scheduled for 1 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11.
