Man charged with witness tampering after recorded phone calls from jail

A man accused of stabbing a man and threatening two women with a knife in June is now facing 16 counts of witness tampering based on recorded phone calls he made from the Spokane County Jail.

Alexander D. Riendeau has been held in jail on $500,000 bond on a charge of first-degree assault and three charges of second-degree assault since June 23. He was reportedly threatening his girlfriend and another woman with a knife on Division Street near Rockwell Avenue.

A man told police that was driving by as the two argued and stopped when Riendeau yelled something at him. Riendeau is accused of stabbing the man twice as he sat in his car.

The recorded phone calls were all between Riendeau and his girlfriend, even though a judge imposed a no-contact order barring Riendeau from contacting her. He reportedly urged her multiple times to not testify against him in court, to keep her friend from testifying against him and to evade service of a subpoena requiring her to testify, according to court documents.

He also instructed her find the man he allegedly stabbed in order to convince him not to testify as well, court documents state. Riendeau reportedly stated in a phone call that “I’m just trying to get a message to him to not show up and I’ll make it good,” according to court documents.

Riendeau was also recorded telling his girlfriend several times to file a complaint against one of the officers involved in his arrest, according to court documents. He reportedly laughed “hysterically” when talking about the stabbing and said he planned to use a self-defense/diminished capacity defense that he could pull off because he’s such a good “con artist.”

“If you came into court and say I was just defending you, then I’ll get off,” he reportedly said.

He also said he was getting “good case law” from a fellow inmate, Brandon Hutchinson. Hutchinson is facing multiple assault and robbery charges after a police chase where he allegedly broke into a woman’s home to steal her car keys and shocked a police officer with his own Tazer during struggle.

Riendeau is currently scheduled to stand trial on the assault charges on Oct. 31.