Bail is set at $100,000 for a man accused of stealing a car while its owner was putting gas in another vehicle on Jackson Highway in Chehalis, punching the car’s owner in the face, driving the car to Sanderson Road, jumping a fence and breaking into an occupied residence before fleeing into the woods on Monday.
The man, identified as Alexander Meyer, 38, of Chehalis, was located and detained by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputies on Monday.
He was booked into the Lewis County Jail at 6:55 p.m. on Monday, according to jail records.
He was charged Tuesday in Lewis County Superior Court with one count each of first-degree robbery, theft of a motor vehicle, first-degree criminal trespass and fourth-degree assault.
Meyer allegedly got into a car owned by Stafford Towing while a Stafford Towing employee was using a gas can to fill up his tow truck, which had run out of gas in the 2600 block of Jackson Highway, according to court documents.
The employee reported that a man, who was later identified as Meyer, walked up behind him, got into the company vehicle and said “thanks.”
The employee “thought the man was kidding, told him to stop and attempted to rip him out of the vehicle,” according to court documents.
Meyer then allegedly “punched (the employee) directly in the face and sped off in the company vehicle.”
The employee reported seeing the vehicle head up Sanderson Road, where officers soon received a call from a resident reporting “a man had jumped his fence, broke into his house and would not leave,” according to court documents.
The homeowner reported he was outside his residence when he watched a vehicle pull up to his closed gate and watched a man exit the vehicle, jump over the closed fence and proceed to the front door of the residence.
Meyer allegedly pushed open the front door and entered the residence while the homeowner was yelling at him and asking what he was doing, according to court documents.
Meyer allegedly refused to leave the residence until the homeowner called the police at 5:52 p.m., according to court documents.
Nothing was taken from or damaged within the residence.
Meyer reportedly fled into a nearby wooded area behind the property, where he could be heard “continuously yelling.”
He allegedly “continuously yelled profanities at (a deputy) and attempted to pull himself out of his grasp” while a deputy was walking him out of the woods, according to court documents.
When questioned, Meyer allegedly said “that was his ‘f—ing house’ and his ‘f—ing car,” later advising the car was his cousin’s, and still later advising it belonged to his grandson.
Investigators have confirmed the vehicle belongs to Stafford Towing. Groceries and other personal belongings owned by the employee driving the car when it was stolen were found inside the vehicle.
Meyer reportedly told a deputy “he actively uses methamphetamine and had been up for seven days straight.”
“It’s very clear from the allegations (that) this appears to be related to substance use disorder,” Judge Joely Yeager said of Meyer’s case during a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, Aug. 27.
While defense attorney Rachael Tiller said Meyer could abide by conditions of release prohibiting him from consuming drugs or alcohol, which she said “should allay any safety concern,” Yeager said there is no way to monitor pre-trial meth use.
Given a lack of a way to monitor Meyer’s drug use and the “extreme risk to community safety” posed by the allegations, Yeager set Meyer’s bail at $100,000.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 5.
