PORT ANGELES — Bails were set Monday for the Agnew woman and Port Angeles man who are accused of first-degree rendering criminal assistance to double-murder suspect John Francis Loring.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge George L. Wood set a $35,000 bail for Tom Lee Dale and a $25,000 bail for Tami Michelle Petersen.
Dale, 38, and Petersen, 40, have not been charged. The state will consider filing formal charges against the twosome at their next hearings on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Dale and Petersen were arrested without incident Friday on the 100 block of Roupe Road near Sequim for suspicion of hindering Loring’s apprehension in the days that surrounded the February murders of 19-year-old David Randle and 68-year-old Raymond Varney.
Loring, 45, was suspected of killing Varney at his Diamond Point home on or about Feb. 16, and Randle at his Dungeness residence on Feb. 21.
Loring died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Feb. 22 as SWAT officers surrounded him in a west Port Angeles apartment.
Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict said his office contends that Loring told Petersen and Dale, or they were aware, that Loring had killed someone. He said Dale and Petersen were friends of Loring’s.
Petersen is also accused of second-degree theft and forgery for allegedly using Varney’s credit card after he was killed.
In the investigation of the Varney slaying, Sheriff’s Detectives Jim McLaughlin and Stacy Sampson found video surveillance recordings of Petersen using the credit card.
Court papers allege that Petersen forged Varney’s signature to purchase cigarettes, gasoline, alcohol, a lottery ticket and food from a Carlsborg gas station in separate transactions of $22.64 and $46.51, and $55.40 in alcohol and lotto tickets from a Sequim liquor store Feb. 21.
Petersen, who was released from jail Friday on a $1,000 bail bond, was handcuffed and led back into the Clallam County jail after her 14-minute hearing.
Dale was already in custody before his bail was set.
Authorities alleged that after Loring killed Varney in Varney’s Fleming Road residence, he dragged the body into the bedroom and covered it with a trash bag.
He then fatally shot Randle at Randle’s Woodcock Road home and drove away in Varney’s stolen pickup, investigators said.
Benedict said Loring abandoned the truck near Osborn Road in Agnew and was picked up by Petersen.
Court papers said Loring stayed with Petersen until Dale drove him to Port Angeles.
Defense attorney Harry Gasnick objected to the affidavit of probable cause in both cases. He said the deputies formulated opinions that can’t be proven.
The judge found probable cause to hold both defendants in jail.
“The court doesn’t see this as a minor matter as far as the allegations are concerned,” Wood said before setting Dale’s bail.
“The allegation is that Mr. Dale knowingly assisted the person who had committed the murder, and by that assistance, Mr. Loring potentially could have been free — and was free — to commit more murders, including law enforcement who ended up in great risk in trying to apprehend him as well.”
Clallam County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ann Lundwall asked the court to set $50,000 bail each in both cases.
The judge set Petersen’s bail lower than Dale’s because a lack of criminal history.
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Reporter Jeff Chew contributed to this report.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
