PORT TOWNSEND — Four Port Townsend men were arrested last week after a man was kidnapped and assaulted in November.
The victim was beaten for hours and shot in the eye with an airsoft gun, causing him to lose most of his sight in that eye, law enforcement said in a probable cause statement.
Three of them — Giuseppe D. Glanz, 20, Zachary James Barbee, 44, and Robert John Cuevas, 19 — were arrested Thursday. They appeared in Jefferson County Superior Court on Friday and have been placed on 72-hour holds.
The fourth — Isaiah William Peoples-Morse, 18 — is scheduled to appear in court at 11:30 a.m. Monday, said Anna Phillips, Jefferson County deputy prosecuting attorney.
Glanz, Barbee and Cuevas are expected to appear again in the Superior Court at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday for charges to be filed, Phillips said.
Glanz and Barbee are being held on $100,000 bail each. Cuevas’s bail is $110,000. No bail had been set yet for People-Morse.
All four are being held for investigation of first-degree assault. Glanz and People-Morse also are suspected of first-degree kidnapping. In addition, Glanz is suspected of first-degree robbery. Cuevos is also suspected of felony possession of a stolen firearm and felony unlawful possession of a firearm, as well as driving with a suspended license.
Phillips is still working through the charges, but expects they will include first-degree kidnapping and assault in the first degree – great bodily harm. Both are Class A felonies punishable up to life in prison and fines up to $50,000 .
Those may change as she continues to study the report, she said Friday.
“Essentially they were all acting in concert,” Phillips said.
The victim was found injured Nov. 10 along Anderson Lake Road. He told deputies he had been kidnapped, beaten and then dumped, but refused to give names because of death threats from the four, according to the probable cause report by Detective Jon Stuart of the Port Townsend Police Department.
Last weekend, an officer encountered a vehicle containing a firearm, explosives and stolen mail. After obtaining a search warrant on the vehicle, investigators found connections to a prior cases of a stolen vehicle and tools at a Port Hadlock residence, and the vehicle was similar to one seen in a surveillance video near the vehicle theft, said Sgt. Brett Anglin.
This led the investigators to a residence in the 500 block of Hendricks Street, where an additional explosive was located. but while conducting the investigation, the victim — who is in custody for investigation of unrelated charges — came forward last Sunday and told investigators that residence is where he was reportedly kidnapped and assaulted by Glanz, Barbee, Cuevas and Peoples-Morse, said Stuart’s report.
On Nov. 10, the victim said he left the Hendricks Street residence early in the morning, and returned about mid-morning, when he said he was confronted and assaulted by the four, who accused him of “stealing items from them,” said Stuart’s report.
Specific items stolen have not been specified. Anglin said that drugs were allegedly in use during the crimes.
The four allegedly trapped and beat the victim for several hours in the house, beating him with fists and clubs. They debated killing him, according to Stuart’s report.
During the altercation, the victim reportedly was shot with a BB or airsoft gun 15-20 times, Stuart said. Barbee was the one who shot him in the right eye, which caused him to lose 75 percent of his vision, the victim said. He said that he now is able to see only light through it.
The victim also was burned by cigarettes. He said that Peoples-Morse put Suboxone strips into his mouth, Stuart’s report said.
Glanz also reportedly pointed an assault rifle at the victim before putting it down and using the airsoft gun, according to the report.
Eventually the victim was forced to change clothes and lie down in the back of a pickup, Stuart’s report said. He was driven about 8.5 miles from the residence and was dumped on or near Anderson Lake Road, where he was found by a person who called 9-1-1.
Defendants claims
Stuart said that after the three were arrested and read their rights on Thursday, they confessed to several actions.
Glanz said that he and the three others were present during the attack and that they thought the victim had stolen from them.
Glanz allegedly said that he beat the victim with his fists and elbow, put out a cigarette on the back of his hand, shot him with a CO2 airsoft pistol and, along with Cuevas, cut part of the victim’s hair off and put it in his mouth, according to the report.
Glanz also reportedly told Stuart that Peoples-Morse gave the victim Suboxone. Glanz told Suart that he did not accompany the group in the truck ride, the report said.
Cuevas reportedly told officials that the four confronted the victim for stealing and when the victim was shot with the airsoft gun “everyone started going crazy.” He said he hit the victim and cut off part of his hair and someone else put it in the victim’s mouth, according to the report.
Cuevas said that someone gave Suboxone to the victim and that they searched the victim and took meth and his wallet from him, and Cuevas gave it to his father, Barbee, the report said.
Barbee reportedly told Stuart that the group first questioned the victim about stealing, but when the victim denied it, Barbee shot him, the report said.
“Yeah, I shot him in the face with the airsoft gun,” the report quoted him as saying.
Barbee said that once he shot the victim, the group started punching and kicking the man, and one of them pulled out brass knuckles but Barbee stopped him from using them.
Barbee drove the truck that dumped the victim off of Anderson Lake Road . He said that Glanz was not in the truck, but corroborated that all four were at the house, the report said.
Barbee reportedly said “he was scared if he wasn’t there to stop them, they would’ve killed [the victim],” the report said.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
