Centralia City Council Reviews Damage Claims for Seized Phone, FEMA Claim

Sept. 11--The Centralia City Council reviewed two claims for damages as part of its consent agenda Tuesday night.

Katie Padilla's iPhone and stun gun were mistakenly destroyed by the Centralia Police Department evidence custodian when they were supposed to be returned to her after her husband was convicted of drug trafficking in June.

"It was our bad," said Police Chief Bob Berg.

The items were confiscated when police arrested Padilla's husband, Jai Jett Bhagwandin, for allegedly selling ecstasy and possession of marijuana with intent to manufacture or deliver in April of this year. At the time, Bhagwandin was out on bail for possessing hallucinogenic mushrooms, cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana inside of a 30-foot limousine at his house in Lacey.

Padilla wasn't involved in the April arrest, but her items were in the car Bhagwandin was driving. Instead of being returned to her, the items were destroyed and she filed a claim for damages in late August.

The other is a $30,000 claim filed by Todd Prickett, who claims the city of Centralia and Lewis County signed off on Federal Emergency Management Agency "fraudulent application of funds."

Prickett filed a tort claim, which is a notice of allegations, facts and information filed with the government that allows them time to investigate before a person can file a lawsuit against the city.

According to his attorney, John Bonin, Prickett purchased a home on Southgate Drive in Centralia this March. He knew it was flooded in 1995 or 1996. The house was lifted with FEMA funding afterward, and the home's paperwork said the work was done properly.

But an insurance inspector discovered that the foundation looks right from the outside, when, in fact, it was not properly filled on the inside.

In an email to The Chronicle, Bonin said, "It is my hope and the hope of Mr. Prickett that the government agencies involved ... pursue those people having signed verifications that the work was done properly if their own investigations evidence that the work was in fact not done properly -- both criminally if applicable -- as well as in the civil arena."

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