A man who was arrested Wednesday, May 21, for allegedly threatening to kill his mother and stepfather in Centralia in October 2024 is facing new charges after investigators learned he allegedly sent more threatening text messages to his mother the same day he was arrested.
Thomas Gabriel Smith, 28, of Tumwater, was arrested in Thurston County and was booked into the Lewis County Jail on a $50,000 warrant at approximately 9:12 p.m. on May 21, according to jail records and previous Chronicle reporting.
The warrant stemmed from a case filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Nov. 19, 2024, in which Smith faces one count of cyber harassment for allegedly sending threatening text messages to his mother’s phone on Oct. 27, 2024.
In those messages, Smith is accused of threatening to kill his mother and his stepfather.
At the time, Smith’s mother and stepfather reported that they “were concerned the threat was very specific and it caused them to fear for their safety,” according to the charging documents filed in that case.
On Friday, May 23 — the day after Smith had his preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court for his initial case — Smith’s mother reportedly contacted the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office to report that Smith was again sending her threatening messages.
A deputy who went through the victim’s phone reportedly confirmed that the victim had been contacted “numerous times” on May 21 by three different phone numbers over the span 27 minutes. Smith’s mother reported that she answered one of the calls “and recognized the voice of the other person as Smith,” according to court documents. She reported that “she immediately hung up the phone because she was afraid of her son and he had made threats to kill her in the past,” including one incident where Smith allegedly held a knife to her neck.
Information about the specifics of that incident was not publicly available as of Tuesday afternoon.
After she hung up, Smith’s mother reported receiving four text messages from an unknown number in the span of one minute. The contents of the messages included statements such as "time to die,” "I'm coming for you. I will slit your throat. Should have apologized now I have to kill you,” "It's time for you to die,” according to court documents.
Several minutes after she received the threatening messages, Smith’s mother received another text apologizing for the earlier messages. She then reportedly received additional threatening texts from a different number.
A Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputy contacted the owner of the phone that sent the initial messages, who reported that he had let an unknown man use his phone and had seen him send text messages to someone, according to court documents. “After seeing what the male had sent, (the phone’s owner) sent the apology text,” according to court documents.
Information on the other number Smith allegedly used to text the victim was not included in court documents filed Tuesday morning.
When questioned by a deputy about the recent text messages, Smith allegedly denied sending any text messages and said “he would never do such a thing and had no phone,” according to court documents.
He later allegedly “admitted he was drunk and did not remember much,” according to court documents.
He was charged Tuesday, May 27, in Lewis County Superior Court with two counts of felony harassment, domestic violence.
Bail for the new case is set at $10,000. Bail for the initial case was set at $50,000, meaning Smith has to post a total of $60,000 to be released.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, May 29.
