Men Plead Innocent To Charges Judge Won’t Cut Bail For Two Arrested For Drugs, Weapons
Two men have pleaded innocent to drug and weapons charges filed after their arrest at a local motel drew interest from at least three federal agencies.
Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Randy Furman set a June 28 trial date for Charles Harrison Barbee, 43, of Sagle, Idaho, and Robert Sherman Berry, 41, of Auburn, Wash. A pre-trial hearing was scheduled June 1, said Deputy Prosecutor Sue Bauer.
Furman on Tuesday denied the men’s request for a reduction in bail, from $50,000 to $30,000 each, noting neither has ties to the area.
The two men are charged with carrying concealed weapons, possession of a stolen firearm and possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, Bauer said.
They were arrested May 2 after they returned to the Kelso motel where they had spent the previous night, saying they had left behind a jacket. A maid had found a .357 Magnum handgun under the pillow, and a motel manager called police when they reappeared.
The gun was registered to a Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy who said he had not realized it was stolen when his home was burglarized April 28, Kelso Police Chief Tony Stoutt said.
Authorities searching the vehicle Barbee and Berry were driving found survival gear, silver coins and bars, and what were initially believed to be components for explosive devices.
Investigators from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Fort Lewis have been assisting in the case.
No federal charges have been filed in the ongoing investigation.
Irwin Abell, Barbee’s neighbor landlord in Idaho, told The Daily News of Longview that Barbee is a member of a local militia - a leaderless cell of four to seven men who would “get together once in a while and strategize about what would happen should something happen.”
Bill Smyth, founder of the conservative Idaho Citizens Awareness Network, said Barbee had told him he was “going to auctions at military bases and gun shows to buy used stuff and sell it.”
He said Barbee recently quit his job at AT&T because he believes the company to be a tool of the “New World Order.”