A Tacoma man well known to Centralia law enforcement was back in court this past Thursday after he was accused of breaking his father’s car windshield with a rock a day earlier.
Wellington M. Waggener, 36, faces one count of second-degree malicious mischief, domestic violence, for the alleged offense.
He made a preliminary appearance in Lewis County Superior Court on Oct. 30.
According to court documents, Centralia police responded to a reported family dispute on Oct. 29. Upon arrival, an officer observed Waggener standing next to his father’s Audi A8 sedan while his father stood nearby “yelling at him.”
The officer noted a “large impact crater on the windshield of the Audi and a rock nearby,” court documents stated.
Waggener allegedly admitted to throwing the rock at the windshield, and indicated the altercation began after his father started “bragging about the number of cars he owned.”
This apparently angered Waggener.
The cost to fix the windshield was approximately $1,500, according to court documents.
During the preliminary hearing, Chief Deputy Prosecutor William Halstead noted Waggener’s “long list of violent offenses that doesn’t even include the misdemeanors he’s had.”
Halstead acknowledged Waggener’s “history of mental health issues,” but said Waggener represented a risk to the community. He asked the court for a bail of $25,000 cash or surety.
Defense attorney Rachael Tiller argued for either unsecured bail or else no more than $5,000, saying transportation shouldn’t be an issue and that Waggener would like to continue having contact with his father so long as they didn’t discuss the case.
Judge Paul Strophy agreed with the state’s request for $25,000 in bail, noting Waggener’s previous domestic violence and assault history.
Waggener is not to have contact with his father, according to standard conditions of release.
He now awaits an arraignment on Nov. 6. Don Blair has been assigned to represent him.
Court records list Waggener’s previous felonies, including convictions for second-degree assault with strangulation and residential burglary, domestic violence, in 2022.
He was sentenced to three years of partial confinement, according to court records out of Thurston County.
In 2019, Waggener was convicted of coercion of involuntary servitude and two counts of fourth-degree assault after he was accused of forcing neighborhood children to do his chores — while refusing to let them leave his house.
Waggener was sentenced to one year and a day in prison with 140 days of credit for time served, followed by one year of community custody, which included participation in mental health and chemical dependency counseling.
In 2016, The Chronicle reported that Waggener was in custody again “after allegedly kicking out a police car’s window when he was accused of assaulting another person.”
In 2015, Waggener was accused of entering a woman’s hotel room in Centralia and arrested on suspicion of burglary with sexual motivation, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
That charge was dropped, though Waggener was reportedly sentenced to nine months in jail for assaulting corrections officers while he awaited hearings on the burglary charge.
The Chronicle previously reported that Waggener received a $300,000 settlement from Lewis County in 2015 after he was allegedly sprayed in the face with a three-inch can of pepper spray and left in a Lewis County Jail cell for five hours without water in 2014.
