A Morton man accused of breaking the windows of his neighbor’s apartment, attempting to deploy a fire extinguisher inside the front door and smashing a wheelbarrow into a woman’s car on Friday has been arrested on felony charges.
Robert Charles Beckhart, 57, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8, after Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputies found him hiding in a shop near the residence in the 200 block of state Route 7, according to jail records and court documents.
Responding deputies reported that Beckhart was “yelling profanities” at a deputy and said that “in order to get him to comply, the officers had to deploy a Taser,” according to court documents.
He denied the allegations that he broke the windows to the residence and allegedly said “his neighbor was setting him up,” according to court documents.
Beckhart is accused of violating a civil anti-harassment order that was issued on Feb. 3 in response to an incident where Beckhart allegedly turned off the power to the neighbor’s unit. As a result of the power being turned off, the apartment’s elderly female resident, who is on an oxygen tank, had to be taken to the hospital, according to court documents.
The anti-harassment order prohibits Beckhart from contacting the elderly neighbor and from going near her residence.
The neighbor’s daughter was reportedly inside the apartment on Feb. 7 when Beckhart allegedly arrived at the residence, according to court documents. The daughter reported that Beckhart “was screaming outside and appeared to be intoxicated” before he allegedly opened the door while the daughter was inside and “attempted to deploy a fire extinguisher inside the door,” according to court documents.
The daughter said she was able to “grab the fire extinguisher from him before he set it off.”
Beckhart then allegedly broke two windows to the apartment, while the daughter was still inside, then “took a wheelbarrow and a bicycle and smashed them against (the daughter’s) Jeep parked in front,” according to court documents.
The vehicle was “heavily damaged” and “the windows were broken by Beckhart (allegedly) throwing items through them,” according to court documents.
Beckhart was charged Feb. 10 with one count each of second-degree malicious mischief, residential burglary and violation of an anti-harassment order.
“I know that Mr. Beckhart was incredibly frustrated regarding these allegations,” defense attorney Rachael Tiller said, adding that Beckhart was unaware of the preexisting anti-harassment order before he was arrested for these allegations.
Due to Beckhart’s lack of criminal history, Judge Paul Strophy allowed Beckhart to be released Monday on $20,000 unsecured bail and to allow Beckhart to remain at his residence, but issued a no-contact order prohibiting Beckhart from having any contact with his neighbor.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 20.
