Trio charged in armed robbery
Stevens County Prosecutor Jerry Wetle filed charges Monday against three suspects in the Aug. 6 armed robbery of a Kettle Falls gasoline station and convenience store.
The suspects, all charged as adults, are Eric Hufferd-Ouellette, 17; Jordan Kerr, 18; and Geronimo Chavez, 24.
Hufferd-Ouellette allegedly forced a Yellow Pine Chevron store clerk to open the cash register and told her he would “come back and cap her” if she called police.
Kettle Falls police and Stevens County sheriff’s deputies got a break Aug. 9 when Hufferd-Ouellette was arrested in Wenatchee after allegedly attempting to steal a car at gunpoint. After his arrest, members of his family provided information about his involvement in the Kettle Falls robbery, which led police to Kerr and Chavez.
Statements attributed to Kerr and Chavez in Stevens County Superior Court charging documents give this account of the Kettle Falls crime:
The three suspects had been staying with some young women in a cabin in the Kelly Hill area north of Kettle Falls when they ran out of beer and made a “beer run” to Yellow Pine Chevron. Kerr and Hufferd-Ouellette put on bandannas and went into the convenience store while Chavez waited outside in the truck.
Kerr reportedly stated that he grabbed two cases of Coors while Hufferd-Ouellette pointed a pistol at the clerk. The store owner later said $450 was taken from the register.
Chavez allegedly told investigators that, when the suspects returned to their cabin, Hufferd-Ouellette displayed a wad of cash and the women ran to him because he was “all bad.”
According to Wetle, the gun found in Hufferd-Ouellette’s possession in Wenatchee had been stolen from a Kelly Hill house shortly before the Kettle Falls robbery. Hufferd-Ouellette was charged with first-degree burglary in that case.
Chavez and Kerr were being held in the Stevens County Jail while Hufferd-Ouellette remained in the Chelan County Jail in lieu of a $1 million bond on the attempted-carjacking charge and a $500,000 bond on a Stevens County arrest warrant.