Teens To Be Arraigned In Kidnapping, Rape 3 Accused Of Assaulting, Robbing Couple At Remote Campground

FROM FOR THE RECORD (Thursday, August 27, 1998): Correction Charges incorrect: A story Wednesday misstated charges against three teenagers in an Aug. 14 attack on a couple camping south of Inchelium, Wash. Michael J. Boyd was charged with first-degree rape and second-degree assault; Sheldon L. Pakootas with second-degree assault and car theft; and Victory A. Antoine with car theft. All three were also charged with two counts of first-degree robbery and one count of first-degree burglary.

Three Inchelium area teenagers face arraignment in adult court Tuesday on charges that they robbed and assaulted a couple at a remote campground and then kidnapped the man, held his girlfriend hostage and raped her.

The incident began in the early morning hours of Aug. 14 at the Roger’s Bar campground about 20 miles south of Inchelium in an isolated corner of the Colville Indian Reservation. It continued at Kettle Falls, 50 miles north of the campground.

The teenage suspects allegedly stole food from a 22-year-old Omak man and his 21-year-old girlfriend and then slashed their way into the couple’s tent to take cash. The woman was then held hostage while her boyfriend was forced to drive to Kettle Falls to withdraw cash from a bank machine.

Authorities said the woman was raped and knocked unconscious. When she regained consciousness, she fought the suspect who was guarding her and got away. Meanwhile, her boyfriend escaped by deliberately violating traffic laws to attract a Kettle Falls police officer.

The officer, Roger Gillaspy, said he was suspicious when the car stopped briefly at a vacant house - where friends of the suspects used to live. Failure to signal for a turn, a rolling stop and an illegal U-turn really got Gillaspy’s attention, and he stopped the car just as it was pulling onto U.S. Highway 395 shortly after 3 a.m.

“I figured I had a drunk,” Gillaspy said.

Then the driver jumped out and ran to him, yelling that he had been kidnapped.

“I wasn’t convinced that was what was going on,” Gillaspy said, but he ordered the two teenagers in the car to show their hands while he called for backup.

Instead, he said, the suspects got out and started to run.

“I kind of got them up against a wall, and one of them started to run again, but a citizen helped grab him,” Gillaspy said.

He said he drew his gun and, with help from Colville resident Stan Hill, handcuffed the suspects. Hill works at a nearby gas station.

Gillaspy said the suspects - Sheldon L. Pakootas and Michael J. Boyd, both 17 - were taking their victim to Colville to find another bank machine because the one they tried in Kettle Falls was closed.

Gillaspy said a small camping hatchet, which they allegedly used to threaten the victim, was found in the car.

Tribal police and the Ferry County Sheriff’s Department sent officers to the campground, where they found the woman had escaped. Victor A. Antoine, 16, was found and was arrested.

Ferry County Undersheriff Lyn Casebolt said the woman was safe on a boat in the middle of Lake Roosevelt with other campers. He said a family of three - the only other campers at the “very remote” site - took the woman on their boat for safety after she ran to them for help.

Prosecutor Steve Graham said Antoine raped the woman and knocked her unconscious with a shovel. When she regained consciousness, she struggled with Boyd and kicked him to escape, Graham said.

The prosecutor charged all three suspects with two counts each of first-degree robbery and first-degree kidnapping and with one count of first-degree burglary.

In addition, Antoine was charged with one count of first-degree rape and one count of second-degree assault against the woman.

Pakootas was charged additionally with second-degree assault for allegedly striking the man with the same shovel Antoine used on the woman. Pakootas and Antoine also are each charged with car theft.

This sidebar appeared with the story: THE CRIME The teenage suspects allegedly stole food from a 22-year-old Omak man and his 21-year-old girlfriend and then slashed their way into the couple’s tent to take cash. The woman was then held hostage while her boyfriend was forced to drive to Kettle Falls to withdraw cash from a bank machine.