Michael Jay Kelly, the former Lewis County Public Utilities District (PUD) commissioner convicted of bribing the PUD general manager, was sentenced to one year and a day in prison Wednesday morning.
The sentence, imposed by Lewis County Superior Court Judge Paul Strophy, includes two days of credit for time served.
According to court documents, Kelly is prohibited from contacting the PUD — and specifically General Manager David Plotz — for 10 years. He must also pay a $500 victim assessment fee and jury costs totaling $4,478.50.
Last month, a 12-person jury found Kelly guilty of one count each of bribery and requesting unlawful compensation. He faced up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines for the bribery charge, and up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines for requesting unlawful compensation.
On Wednesday, Strophy imposed one year and a day in prison for both counts, to run concurrently. The judge denied the defense’s first-time offender waiver, which would have allowed the court to impose a significantly reduced sentence or eliminate jail time altogether
and, instead, order a period of electronic home monitoring.
According to jail records, Kelly was booked into the Lewis County Jail at 9:50 a.m. Wednesday.
The former PUD commissioner was originally accused of bribing Plotz during a barroom meeting on Nov. 7, 2024. In that meeting — which Plotz said had been set to discuss his compensation — Kelly asked Plotz to create an asset manager position for Kelly at the PUD.
In exchange, Kelly would vote to raise Plotz’s salary by 8%, and try to convince the other two PUD commissioners to follow suit.
The next day, Plotz met with PUD attorney Allen Unzelman and others within the PUD. Plotz and Unzelman then went to the Centralia Police Department to report the bribery.
On Nov. 14, 2024, Plotz participated in a judicially-authorized wiretapped phone conversation with Kelly. The goal of the conversation, which was overseen by the Centralia Police Department, was to get Kelly to repeat the bribery attempt.
The conversation was played to the jury during trial.
“I would like to be clear,” Plotz says in the recorded call, before telling Kelly that he wants to know what he’s supposed to do.
“I just want to make sure you don’t leave before you create a position for me,” Kelly says.
A short time later, Kelly says he knows how to talk to fellow commissioner Michael Hadaller, and adds that Commissioner Ed Rothlin is “not going to be hard.”
“We’re just taking care of each other as best we can,” Kelly says near the end of the call.
On Nov. 20, 2024, Lynnette Hoffman, the editor of Lewis County News and Kelly’s former political consultant, participated in a second wiretapped phone conversation with Kelly.
Kelly was arrested on Nov. 27, 2024, and had been out of custody since posting $10,000 in bail on Nov. 29, 2024.
He pleaded not guilty to both counts during a preliminary appearance and arraignment on Dec. 2, 2024, and again pleaded not guilty to an amended information on June 4.
Kelly was first elected as PUD commissioner in 2020 and began serving in January 2021. In March 2025, his position was vacated after he failed to attend PUD Board of Commissioners meetings for 60 days.
Kelly’s defense attorney, Ryan English, told The Chronicle that he and Kelly filed a notice of appeal on Wednesday.
The notice, English said, asks the Washington state Court of Appeals, Division II, “to review every aspect of the case.”
