The Green Hill School staff member arrested last week for allegedly bringing marijuana into the facility was charged Monday in Lewis County Superior Court with one count of possession of a controlled substance in a correctional facility by a person not a prisoner.
The charge is a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Green Hill School is a juvenile detention and rehabilitation system in Chehalis that is run by the state Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF).
Aaron D. Snideman, 42, of Centralia, was arrested on Friday, Jan. 19, after staff at the facility notified Chehalis police of the possible presence of controlled substances on Jan. 17, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
Charging documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Monday, Jan. 22 indicate a security staff member found “a small bag of marijuana” in the vocational school lobby on Dec. 31 and notified other staff the next day.
Video footage reportedly showed kitchen staff member Snideman walking down that hallway at approximately 12:12 p.m. on Dec. 31. While he was walking, Snideman allegedly “dug for an item in his right side pocket” before “an object fell to the ground in front of classroom 4.” Snideman allegedly exited the hallway, and no one entered the hallway until Snideman re-entered the hallway at 12:38 p.m., according to court documents.
“Mr. Snideman stopped in front of classroom 4, looked at the object on the floor, and then got on his radio. A couple minutes later, (a security staff member) arrived to inspect and take control of the item,” according to court documents.
When questioned about the incident on Jan. 19, Snideman allegedly “stated he went out for a smoke, and when he came back, he found the baggie on the ground so he radioed for additional staff.” When “advised that the video showed the baggie fell out of his own pocket, Mr. Snideman (allegedly) muttered ‘oh,’” according to court documents.
While he was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail on Jan. 19, Snideman posted $5,000 over the weekend and was out of custody at the time his case was filed in Lewis County Superior Court.
During a preliminary hearing on Monday, all parties agreed to allow Snideman to remain out of custody on the bail he already posted.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 1.
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Earlier this month, Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, and Centralia Police Chief Stacy Denham called “the current situation” at Green Hill School in Chehalis “a complete failure, not just for the staff and inmates, but also for communities across Washington,” and again called for additional investigation into the facility in a joint statement.
Gov. Jay Inslee has previously said the institution had taken steps to improve security at the facility, which has seen heightened scrutiny in recent months.
In May 2023, Denham joined other local officials in a letter to Inslee’s office that asked the governor to direct the Washington state attorney general to investigate the facility “for their ongoing practices and procedures.”
After a representative for the governor declined and noted recent security improvements, the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team served a search warrant at the facility on Aug. 31, 2023, while investigating whether staff members had provided narcotics to inmates. During the search, officers seized evidence related to the possession and distribution of illegal controlled substances.
“JNET detectives located lockers where Green Hill staff was storing contraband found within their facility dating back to 2017,” a JNET news release stated at the time. “In these lockers, JNET detectives found illegal controlled substances, cell phones, vape pens, improvised knives (shanks), hand written documents arranging illegal drug transactions, and hand tools. The illegal controlled substances include green leafy substance believed to be marijuana, crystal substances believed to be methamphetamine, powder substances believed to be fentanyl, and pills believed to be fentanyl. These substances will be sent to a lab for testing as needed as part of this ongoing investigation.”
The investigation came after four arrests in November 2022 following the overdose of an inmate who was found unconscious in his cell.
Charges have been filed in multiple cases against inmates following the serving of the warrant in August of last year.
Following the most recent criticism from Braun and Denham, a spokesperson for Inslee disputed the assessment and said the state DCYF would “soon” provide additional information “contradicting other falsehoods,” including on inmate supervision and a recent incident where “contraband in a football thrown over the fence” was successfully handled by DCYF.
“Outside of misleading politically motivated broadsides, Braun and Denham haven’t even taken up DCYF on an offer to talk more about their concerns,” spokesperson Mike Faulk wrote in an email Jan. 12. “Fortunately, the state has a healthy and collaborative relationship with others locally, including the Chehalis Police Department.”
