Dog Patch Neighbor Admits Vandalism Man Pleads Guilty; Judge Gives Him Suspended Jail Term, Orders Restitution

A next-door neighbor has pleaded guilty to vandalizing the controversial Dog Patch animal shelter Joyce Tasker operates in her Colville-area home, and another neighbor is scheduled to make a similar plea Wednesday.

Ray Hickey, 79, recently pleaded guilty to third-degree malicious mischief for tearing down one of Tasker’s signs. But Hickey avoided prosecution for allegedly pointing a pistol at a 13-year-old boy who was riding his bicycle on the private road in front of Hickey’s home.

Allen Nielson, chief criminal deputy prosecutor for Stevens County, said Hickey apologized to the boy, and the boy’s father didn’t want his son to have to testify in court.

District Court Judge Pam Payne gave Hickey a seven-day jail sentence and a $100 fine for the malicious mischief conviction. She also ordered him to pay $45 restitution to Tasker. Payne suspended the jail term for a year on condition that Hickey commit no more vandalism against Tasker’s property.

Tasker’s other next-door neighbor, Dan Schwartz, is scheduled for a settlement hearing Wednesday before Payne. The proposed plea agreement calls for Schwartz to plead guilty to one of four counts of third-degree malicious mischief for damaging Tasker’s signs and banners.

The deal calls for Schwartz to pay $50 restitution and have his sentence deferred for two years. If he commits no more offenses in the two years, he would not be sentenced and could apply to have the conviction expunged from his record.

Tasker and her neighbors have an ongoing feud over her controversial dog shelter that is so bitter they were featured last month in a national television special called “Neighbors from Hell.” They have ongoing civil litigation over whether the dog shelter is a nuisance and whether one side or the other has violated various restraining orders.

The dispute heated up after Superior Court Judge Larry Kristianson ruled earlier this year that the shelter was no longer a nuisance, and a violent confrontation between Tasker and Hickey erupted in September. Sheriff’s reports indicate Hickey struck Tasker with a shovel and she fired three shots into the ground from a .357-caliber Magnum pistol.

No one was charged in that incident.