Bail is set at $25,000 for a man accused of threatening to sexually assault and kill two teenage boys at a grocery store in Chehalis on Sunday.
Bryan Jacob Hill, 32, of Chehalis, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail at 11:15 p.m. on Feb. 23 after officers with the Chehalis Police Department responded to a report of a disorderly male outside the Main Street Food Mart in the 600 block of West Main Street just after 10:40 p.m., according to jail records and Chehalis Police Department call logs.
While officers were on their way to the store, they received a second report about the disorderly male from a mother who said a male carrying alcohol was following her 14-year-old son while saying he was “going to cut his body up and rape him,” according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Monday.
An officer contacted the mother and two boys outside a nearby business, where the older boy reported that he and his 14-year-old brother had tried to go to the grocery store, but found it was closed. As they were walking away, the male allegedly approached and said he wanted the two boys to perform a sexual act on him, according to court documents.
The 14-year-old boy told the officer that the male had threatened to sexually assault him and kill him, according to court documents.
The 14-year-old boy reported that he “believed the male would carry through with his threats and added that he ‘squared up’ as if to fight him,” according to court documents.
The male then allegedly told the older boy he would “break your skull and rape your body until it’s all warm and used up,” according to court documents.
The male then reportedly got into a vehicle, at which point the two boys went to a nearby business and called their mother.
Officers located and questioned Hill after determining that he “matched the description provided and had alcohol with him,” according to court documents.
When questioned by officers, Hill allegedly “denied being near the Food Mart” then “said that some teens were trying to beat him up while he was at the Food Mart,” according to court documents.
Hill has since “made it very clear that he believes the wrong person has been arrested” and allegedly said that the “other party” was the “primary aggressor,” defense attorney Rachael Tiller said during Hill’s preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court on Monday, where he was charged with two counts of felony harassment.
When Hill was booked into the Lewis County Jail on Sunday, he allegedly “asked to be placed in a certain pod so that he could start a fight and ‘f— up’ whoever was in the pod,” according to court documents.
“The probable cause affidavit for this case is simply alarming,” Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said during Hill’s preliminary hearing on Monday, where he asked for Hill’s bail to be set at $150,000 due to community safety concerns and failure-to-appear risk.
“I know that Mr. Hill is quite frustrated with this case,” Tiller said Monday, adding that Hill lives locally and is financially unable to post bail.
Judge Paul Strophy acknowledged the community safety concerns and failure-to-appear risk on Monday, but opted to set bail at $25,000 due to Hill’s financial situation and the dated nature of his criminal history.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, March 6.
