The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON – John Garrett Waltermire, 24, pleaded not guilty last week to all charges associated with the March 2 break-in at Inland Cellular in downtown Dayton. He was arrested March 7 after a short foot pursuit by Columbia County Sheriff's deputies and Washington State Patrol troopers.

The Dayton man was arraigned last Wednesday in Columbia County Superior Court on the charges of second-degree burglary, a Class B felony; second-degree theft, a Class C felony; malicious mischief, a gross misdemeanor; and resisting arrest, a misdemeanor. He is accused of forcibly entering the Inland Cellular store before dawn on March 2 and taking several electronic items.

Also while in court last week, Waltermire entered a guilty plea on two unrelated charges from last year including possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), a Class C felony, and second-degree burglary, a Class B felony. The drug charge was filed after Waltermire was arrested on Dec. 25, 2014; the burglary charge was for breaking in to the Dayton city dog pound and removing a dog earlier in 2014.

He will serve a total of five months in the Columbia County Jail for these two crimes; three months for the drug offense and two months for the burglary offense. A trial date has not yet been set for the new charges.