Montesano police chief charged with theft over $10,000 in illegal credit card purchases
The News Tribune - December 24, 2010
MONTESANO, WA - Montesano officials say Ray Sowers has been charged with theft and falsification of accounts when he was the city's police chief. City Administrator Kristy Powell told The Daily World of Aberdeen on Friday that prosecutors followed the recommendation of Washington State Patrol investigators. They reported in August that Sowers had made more than $10,000 in illegal credit card purchases over a year-and-a-half. The charges were filed by the Thurston County prosecutor's office. Sowers was relieved from his job in June and resigned in September. He had been with Montesano force since 1987 and chief since 1994.
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I have lived in montesano for most of my life. I attended Monte High the year Ray Sowers came to school as an undercover officer. The police department was under the impression that there was a major drug problem going on in the school and from my understanding they believed there were kids dealing narcotics in the school who were connected with large scale dealers. I never came across anything like that in my years attending the Montesano schools my whole life. There was however marijuana use which was widespread in the school population, I know because I used it during my youth. Ray approached me once or twice about getting him some marijuana and I told him id see what I could find and I think I might have actually purchased 2 grams of marijuana for him during his undercover op. Although I was wrong in what I did he offered to pay my cover charge to go to a kegger a couple times during his operation. As well as numerous kids I knew who said he smoked pot with them and I don't remember anyone saying he asked them for cocaine ,LSD or heroine. I remember one day I was told to go to the office I met the vice principal and he asked me to follow him. When we arrived at the gym there were 4 or 5 other kids handcuffed together and I was then placed under arrest for violation of the controlled substance abuse act and joined the group. Im not sure how many kids were led through the school grounds to the school office handcuffed together like my group but id say there was atleast 18 to 24 altogether. While Ray was undercover he had atleast one girlfriend who was in my class and afterwards he married a girl from the grade below ours. Montesano is a small town of around 3,600 people and the county seat for Grays Harbor,maybe the reason to have a undercover officer bust a bunch of school kids for a couple grams of marijuana a piece was to make an example for the rest of the county and to eventually elect him as chief of police. There were kids who said he smoked marijuana with them through a water bong which I don't understand how you could fake smoking through one but Ray said he only acted like he was in court. The drug problem in montesano wasn't a heavy narcotic problem back then but in the years since Ray has been here its steadily been getting worse. With the meth epidemic the country has seen in the last 15 to 20 years one would think the police would do more than target people speeding or driving with a tail light out. For me its just another example of government corruption which starts with normal everyday people in small towns across the country.
It seems the corporate scandals of the past are now in and amongst all of us. Everyone looks at each situation and thinks what's in it for me or what can I get out of this situation. Abuse and greed destroy.
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