PORT ANGELES — A 61-year-old man has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for threatening to kill four children and eluding law enforcement officers in Sequim.
A jury found John Barcellos guilty in September, and he was sentenced in Clallam County Superior Court to 77 months in prison on Nov. 18. He will get credit for time served.
Judge Brent Basden imposed the sentence to include 55 months for four counts of harassment with threats to kill and 22 months for attempting to elude law enforcement. Barcellos also was found indigent.
Clallam County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Roberson and victims’ families asked for the maximum 60-month penalty.
On Sept. 16, 2023, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office reported that Barcellos made threats with a hatchet, which later was revealed to be fake, and attempted to hit four children playing in the Sequim Seventh-day Adventist Church parking lot with his car. Three children hid on a stairwell and another in the bushes.
Barcellos later drove off, hit a deputy’s vehicle, hit the Woodcock Road roundabout and crashed, deputies said.
While en route to be booked, Barcellos also allegedly threatened to kill a deputy.
Barcellos’ trial lasted five days and included testimony from him and the children. The jury found Barcellos guilty of five counts counts and acquitted him of three charges of second-degree assault, one count of harassment with threats to kill and determined he did not use his vehicle as a deadly weapon.
Mothers of the two sets of siblings spoke during sentencing about their children’s constant nightmares and fears, innocence lost and trauma.
“Two years later, and I’m still trying to heal from this night,” one mother read on behalf of her younger child.
“On the phone, I could hear (Barcellos) screaming at them he was going to kill them and bash their heads in,” she said.
She read her older child’s statement that Barcellos took their innocence away.
“No one should have to feel the way we feel,” the mother read on her child’s behalf.
The mother later said they live with the lasting effects of the trauma and that they’re not the same family since that night.
The second mother was critical of the length of time it took for the case to go to trial.
“A piece of their innocence was stolen that night,” she said.
Her family had gone to that church parking lot since her children were toddlers to play, go sledding and learn to ride their bikes, she said.
“Our family has not been back to that parking lot,” she said. “Nothing seems carefree anymore.”
Alternative sentencing
Barcellos was eligible for a mental health sentencing alternative during which he would be released to receive personalized mental health treatment and be supervised by the state Department of Corrections.
Defense Attorney John Hayden said during sentencing that if Barcellos just goes to prison and is released, he would be unchecked, whereas the alternative sentence would provide a defined program.
“The old way of, ‘He might be crazy, lock ’em up,’ doesn’t work,” he said.
Hayden said the “modern-day mental health tragedy” the children experienced from Barcellos was horrible, but the situation wasn’t as black-and-white as it appeared as the jury didn’t find Barcellos’ vehicle to be used as a deadly weapon.
He said under the alternative sentence, Barcellos could be brought back and re-sentenced if treatment is refused, whereas he could walk out of prison with no treatment plan.
However, Basden said during Barcellos’ sentencing that he had significant concerns about the alternative sentence’s plan and that Barcellos wouldn’t use the services provided to him.
“I’m not at all convinced he would try to do (a treatment plan),” Basden said.
“If the court imposed that, it’d be months long chasing our tail to get him to comply.
“The plan is simply insufficient. I don’t think it would benefit the community to have him be back out on the street.”
Roberson said after many mental evaluations since Sept. 16, 2023, doctors haven’t agreed on what Barcellos suffers from, with some diagnoses including major depressive disorder, unspecified mood disorder or schizoaffective disorder.
Barcellos has an offender score of 9 for his history of criminal arrests, including second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, bail jumping and second-degree burglary.
“When looking at (the Sept. 16, 2023 incidents), I don’t think this is a case where his ability to understand right or wrong was significantly impaired,” Roberson said.
“Mr. Barcellos testified at trial. In his testimony, he believed the four boys were bothering him and a threat to the church. His actions were to have them leave.”
Roberson said Barcellos’ willingness to participate in treatment now after refusing it was because he faced prison time.
“In his past, he has a tendency to disobey the state’s order; he has a history of choosing ‘or else,’” he said.
As to the severity of the threats, Robertson said displaying the toy axe made it different than just uttering a threat.
“The children did not know Barcellos,” he said. “The three trapped on the stairwell and one in the bushes, they thought he had an axe.”
Basden agreed with that sentiment before sentencing, saying he believed Barcellos knew what he was doing, and the children thought that it was an axe.
Barcellos did not address the court at sentencing.
Basden complimented the children to their mothers and told them they are “some of the brightest America has to offer” and he found them impressive and articulate, and he hopes they can work through trauma through faith, counseling and family.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
