A Chehalis man faces a felony charge for allegedly damaging and attempting to steal an Adna School District van after wrecking his vehicle in the high school parking lot.
According to court documents, Matthew C. O'Brien, 54, allegedly told a sheriff’s deputy he had tried to steal the van so he could “get out of here.’”
Deputies arrested O'Brien on Oct. 5. He made a preliminary appearance in Lewis County Superior Court that afternoon. A judge released him on a $20,000 unsecured bond.
O'Brien is charged with one felony count of attempted theft of a motor vehicle. He faces lesser charges of second-degree vehicle prowl, third-degree malicious mischief and second-degree criminal trespass.
O'Brien has no criminal or warrant history, according to prosecutors.
According to a probable cause affidavit, a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to a reported single-vehicle collision at Adna High School on Oct. 5. O'Brien had reportedly called in to say he’d wrecked his vehicle after colliding with a rock in the parking lot.
The deputy arrived and first found an Adna School District van with its rear window shattered and its rear door damaged. The deputy later found O'Brien standing close to a vehicle that was “high-centered on a decorative rock near the parking lot,” according to the affidavit.
The deputy suspected O'Brien was under the influence.
“O'Brien said there had been a party at his house and it got out of hand, so he left,” the affidavit said. O’Brien then allegedly asked the deputy to “take him in.”
According to the affidavit, O’Brien allegedly admitted to breaking the van’s back window with a track-and-field hurdle because he was “trying to find another vehicle."
O'Brien is scheduled for an arraignment on Thursday.
