Two Oregon residents were arrested in Centralia Sunday for possession of a vehicle registered stolen by the Gresham Police Department in Oregon.
Kayla Lavonne Deswert, 38, of Portland, Oregon; and Luiz Javier Olmos Munoz, 32, of Welches, Oregon; were both booked after Centralia police received a stolen vehicle notification for a white Dodge Ram with an Oregon license plate. Both suspects were charged Monday in Lewis County Superior Court with possession of a stolen vehicle, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, while Olmos Munoz was also charged with violation of a no-contact order.
Olmos Munoz’ bail was set at $25,000 cash or bond by Judge Joely Yeager, who directed him not to have any direct or indirect contact with witnesses and Deswert. Deswert, the protected party in the protection order against Olmos Munoz, was released from jail Monday on $25,000 unsecured bail.
The suspect vehicle, registered stolen on June 22, was located near Main Street and North Pearl Street, and Centralia police initiated a traffic stop. According to charging documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court, Deswert immediately began making statements about how she had permission to use the vehicle and how it was not stolen. She offered to show police text messages on her cellphone with the vehicle’s owner.
Police reviewed the text messages and found that the owner repeatedly asked Deswert to return his vehicle, court documents state, and that the owner told Deswert that he was going to have the vehicle entered as stolen. Olmos Munoz reportedly told police that Deswert told him two days before that she believed the vehicle had been entered as stolen and admitted it was unwise to drive a stolen vehicle, according to court documents.
Police spoke to the vehicle’s owner by phone and learned that he had reportedly allowed Deswert to drive him to the airport and that she was supposed to pick him up three days later and that he would have re-taken possession of his vehicle at that time. The owner told police that he never saw Deswert again and that he had sent her numerous text messages, according to court documents.
Police subsequently learned that Olmos Munoz was the respondent in an active pre-trial no-contact order, which states that he is not to have contact of any kind with Deswert, issued in Clackamas County. Olmos Munoz also has a drug conviction from 2016 and felony conviction of unlawful possession of a firearm in 2023.
Yeager told Deswert during her preliminary hearing Monday that she would owe the court $25,000 and be held without bail until her case is finished if she does not appear for her July 31 arraignment or is even two minutes late. Yeager said that the bail amounts for Deswert and Olmos Munoz should mirror one another but that Olmos Munoz’ history and the violated court order warrants secured bail.
Deswert and Olmos Munoz will each return to court July 31 for arraignment.
