Bail has been set at $150,000 for a Toledo man accused of pulling his disabled stepfather out of a wheelchair and hitting him in the back of the head with the handle of a machete on Sunday.
Officers with the Toledo Police Department responded to the 600 block of Evans Road sometime before 10:10 p.m. on July 3 following a report that a man, identified as Matthew Skare, 43, was “threatening people and hit someone with a machete,” according to court documents.
When the officers arrived, they reportedly found Skare’s stepfather, who is paralyzed below the waist, “laying in a pool of blood on the living room floor.”
Skare is accused of “pull(ing) him out of his wheelchair before kicking him in the face and hitting him in the back of the head with the handle of a machete approximately six times” following an argument with another relative “over yard work,” according to court documents.
Skare had reportedly gotten “upset” at another relative and reportedly “told her he was going to kill her while pointing the machete at her throat,” at which point Skare’s stepfather attempted to intervene and was assaulted, according to court documents. A third relative reportedly tried to get between Skare and his stepfather but Skare allegedly punched him in the face.
Skare was booked into the Lewis County Jail and has since been charged with one count each of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, fourth-degree assault and harassment, threat to kill. The latter two charges carry a domestic violence enhancement.
Given the violent nature of the alleged offense and Skare’s criminal history, which includes eight prior warrants for his arrest, Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead asked Judge J. Andrew Toynbee to set Skare’s bail at $250,000 during Skare’s preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Halstead additionally asked Toynbee to issue no-contact orders protecting each of the three alleged victims.
Skare’s attorney, Rachael Tiller, said Skare did not object to the no-contact orders but she asked Toynbee to consider setting bail no higher than $150,000. “Frankly the bail amount, Mr. Skare will not be able to post. He does not intend to post,” said Tiller on Tuesday.
Toynbee set Skare’s bail at $150,000 “based on the nature of the offense, the vulnerability of the victim and the prior history of failures to appear,” he explained Tuesday.
Toynbee also granted the orders protecting the three victims.
Skare’s next court appearance is an arraignment hearing scheduled for Thursday, July 7.
