A 17-year-old boy was arrested and charged with new robbery, assault and escape charges following an escape attempt from the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center in Chehalis on Wednesday.
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A 17-year-old boy was arrested and charged with new robbery, assault and escape charges following an escape attempt from the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center in Chehalis on Wednesday.
The juvenile has been identified in Lewis County Jail and Lewis County Superior Court records as Daniel Michael Keough.
He was charged Thursday, Jan. 16, in Lewis County Superior Court with two counts of second-degree assault and one count each of first-degree robbery, first-degree assault and third-degree assault.
Bail is set at $500,000.
A 16-year-old was also arrested for escaping during the incident. His case is being handled in Lewis County Juvenile Court.
The Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center, located in the 1200 block of Southwest Pacific Avenue in Chehalis, is a separate facility from Green Hill School, a juvenile rehabilitation center located in the 300 block of Southwest 11th Street in Chehalis.
Officers with the Chehalis Police Department were dispatched to the Juvenile Detention Center at approximately 7:15 p.m. on Jan. 16 for a report of “an escape attempt with multiple officers injured,” according to a news release issued Thursday morning.
The reporting party told dispatchers that Keough was “trying to get out,” according to charging documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Thursday.
Officers arrived to find two female detention officers actively “struggling with a male subject,” according to court documents.
A second male subject reportedly left the facility while officers were waiting to be let in, according to court documents.
The detention officers who were assaulted suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
Responding Chehalis officers noted that both detention officers “were bleeding and had injuries to their faces,” the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office states in charging documents.
The detention officers told police that they “had been made aware that Keough’s mother had called in concerned that Keough was planning an escape — saying he was going to be seeing her soon,” according to court documents.
One of the detention officers reported she was playing basketball with four male juvenile inmates in her charge “when she saw Keough run towards the fence.” She reported that “she ran over and pulled him down,” at which point Keough allegedly “began to strike her on the face with a closed fist,” according to court documents. Keough also allegedly “picked her up and threw her on her back, which caused her to hit her head.”
A second detention officer then responded to assist and pushed Keough against the fence, at which point Keough allegedly began to strike her in the head with a closed fist.
The first detention officer reportedly tried to handcuff Keough, but he allegedly “was able to break free and began hitting them with the handcuff,” according to court documents.
One of the officers stated she “felt it was possible that Keough would have killed them with the handcuffs and how he was hitting them.”
During the assault, one of the two detention officers was “knocked out for an unknown period of time,” according to court documents.
While Keough was allegedly assaulting the detention officers, a 16-year-old male inmate “came over and indicated he was going to help them,” but then allegedly joined in on the assault by tackling an officer to the ground and kicking her head.
While the 16-year-old was kicking the officer, Keough was reportedly “able to get the gate open.”
The two detention officers successfully detained Keough, but the 16-year-old was able to escape, according to court documents.
An officer reported that “when they stopped Keough, he began to assault them again by biting them during the cuffing process,” according to court documents.
The 16-year-old was located “hiding in mud in the area of Dobson Court” at approximately 10:40 p.m. on Wednesday and was detained, according to court documents.
The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office stated in charging documents that the 16-year-old was reportedly “knocking on someone’s door saying they need to let him in because he just broke out of jail.”
The 16-year-old was returned to the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center and was charged with first-degree escape and third-degree assault, according to Chehalis police.
“We would like to thank the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife and JNET for their assistance,” the Chehalis Police Department said in a news release, adding, “This is an ongoing investigation. No other information will be released at this time.”
The Chehalis Police Department asks anyone with information about the incident to contact the department at 360-748-8605.
Keough was previously arrested alongside two other juveniles in May 2023 for allegedly robbing a Toledo-area gas station and murdering an employee, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
Keough was 15 years old at the time.
His two co-defendants, Quinton M. Ramey and Taylor K. Lenihan, who were 17 and 16, respectively, at the time of the offense, were charged as adults in Lewis County Superior Court. Ramey was sentenced in November 2024 to 16 years in prison after he entered a guilty plea. Lenihan, who entered a guilty plea a few days after her arrest in May 2023, has a sentencing hearing scheduled for Feb. 6, 2025.
Court documents indicate Keough’s case was still active in Lewis County Juvenile Court as of Thursday afternoon.
Keough was also charged in Lewis County Juvenile Court in September 2024 for allegedly causing property damage at the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center and threatening staff with an improvised weapon, according to court documents and statements made during Keough’s preliminary hearing on the new case in Lewis County Superior Court on Thursday.
That case was still active as of Thursday afternoon.
Given those two pending Lewis County juvenile cases, as well as the allegations in this new case, Judge J. Andrew Toynbee ruled to allow Keough to be housed at the Lewis County Jail until this new case is resolved. He also ruled to allow Keough to have sight and sound contact with the adult inmates housed at the facility, which is generally prohibited under state law except in extreme circumstances.
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Captain Christopher Tawes testified Thursday that Keough is being held in a four-room maximum security unit in the Lewis County Jail, stating that Keough is under full lockdown in a single-person room 23 hours a day and is under 24/7 video surveillance.
No adult inmates have physical access to Keough at any time, Tawes stated.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 23.