By Corey Morris
The Vidette

Former Montesano Police Chief Ray Sowers was sentenced to nearly four years in prison in Pierce County District Court on Jan. 7 for two counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree.

A search warrant executed in Sowers’ apartment in September turned up more than 150 grams of methamphetamine and more than 38 grams of heroin, according to a declaration submitted to the court. A 9mm handgun was found under the bed, and two empty 9mm magazines, $2,100 in cash, drug paraphernalia, items with heroin residue, crib notes and Sowers’ passport were found in a safe. Drugs were found throughout the bedroom, and a gram scale was in a filing cabinet.The resulting charges from that search netted a 45-month prison sentence.

Sowers already was serving a 5-month sentence in Pierce County Jail for an incident involving the theft of more than 50 liquor bottles from Safeway.On Oct. 29, 2014, Sowers was removed from Pierce County Drug Court and was sentenced to five months in jail after pleading guilty to theft in the second degree, having stolen more than 50 bottles of liquor from a Safeway in Tacoma. A witness observed Sowers putting liquor bottles in his pockets at the grocery store, walking out to a vehicle and emptying the pockets into the back seat. Security footage showed him repeating the trip. The witness provided a license plate number, and Sowers later was seen pushing the same vehicle into a Chevron gas station where law enforcement found several liquor bottles in plain view.The theft totaled more than $1,500.

Sowers’ police career ended in 2010 when he was charged with first-degree theft and second-degree identity theft for stealing public money from the City of Montesano. He was convicted in 2011, served six months in jail, and then was convicted in 2012 for driving under the influence. In 2013 he was convicted on another charge of driving under the influence and was sentenced to jail for a parole violation.

I'da' thunk a former police chief would have a better clue on how to successfully break laws and avoid detection. Karma.

There's a rotten apple in every barrel. A bad banana in every bunch.

He was probably a Republican.