The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON – Dayton resident John Garrett Waltermire, 24, was sentenced in early June to 12 months and one day in state prison after a year of multiple arrests, evasion from local law enforcement and months spent in the county jail.

He admitted in Columbia County Superior Court several weeks ago to breaking into the Inland Cellular store in downtown Dayton on March 2, not long after his release from jail on bail after a separate burglary at the city dog pound in December.

Waltermire was most recently arrested on March 7 after he fled a short distance on foot from local deputies and Washington State Patrol troopers in Dayton: he had been a suspect in the Inland Cellular burglary for a week and was also wanted on two other Columbia County warrants for obstructing a law enforcement officer and failure to appear in court on charges of possession of drugs.

He had already eluded capture when he fled the scene of a traffic stop on foot several days earlier, dropping in his flight several items reported taken from the Inland Cellular burglary, which included an HTC cell phone, a Samsung Galaxy Tab, a Bluetooth headset and a pair of small stereo speakers, according to court documents.

Waltermire has been housed in the Columbia County Jail since his March arrest; this new sentence means he'll be moved to prison for the remainder of his incarceration.

He will serve the new sentence, for the second-degree burglary and resisting arrest, concurrently with a five-month sentenced handed down by Columbia County Superior Court Judge Scott Gallina in March for breaking into the city pound and possession of a methamphetamine, which was found on Waltermire at the time of his arrest in December.