A Longview man was sentenced to just over one year in prison earlier this week after he violated a restraining order, breaking into his ex-girlfriend's house and hiding in the attic, leaving for a brief time to slash her tires.
Mitchell Lee Wellin, 34, of Kelso, was sentenced to a little over a year for violating a court order in January and received a 364-day sentence for a third-degree malicious mischief charge, which was suspended.
His ex, Nina Natirboff Dent, 38, of Kelso, told The Daily News police had to break a hole in her ceiling, then sent a drone and pepper spray projectiles to get Wellin, who was hiding underneath the heating installation, out of the space. Later, Dent said she found bottles of liquor in the attic.
Wellin's court order to stay at least 1,000 feet away from Dent was extended to Feb. 5.
He reached a plea deal with Cowlitz County prosecutors in April, as he initially faced two additional counts of residential burglary and obstructing a law enforcement officer.
On Jan. 26, at about 4:45 p.m., a Kelso police officer states in a report he responded to the 600 block of Sixth Avenue after someone called saying they saw Wellin slash Dent's car tires and walk into her backyard.
Once the officer arrived, he reported hearing the hissing of air escaping the tires, and a neighbor told him Wellin used a ladder to get inside the house's attic. Police threw pepper spray in the crawl space to get him out, the report states.
Dent told The Daily News that after Wellin broke into her house, she believes he took a cell phone from her bedroom and a knife from the kitchen before he entered the attic. She said her daughter later told her that while Dent was in the shower, Wellin left the attic to slash the tires.
Dent said that Wellin gave her black eyes several times, and he violated the restraining order multiple times as well, including once in court when he attempted to wish her a happy birthday.
Once, she said she caught him on camera behind her house in an alley, and another time when she found him sleeping in her shed.
