SEQUIM — A second Sequim-area resident has been arrested in a robbery reported at a Clallam County park just east of Sequim last week.
Clallam County sheriff’s deputies booked 24-year-old Richard Lee Hedrich, also known as “Boston,” into the Clallam County jail for investigation of one count of first-degree robbery.
Alleged accomplice
His Thursday booking came one day before Michelle Patricia McNeill, an alleged associate of Hedrich, pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree robbery in Clallam County Superior Court.
Hedrich was still in the Clallam County jail as of Saturday on $10,000 bond, while McNeill has been released, with her next Superior Court appearance set for Jan. 17 at 1 p.m. and jury trial set for Feb. 19.
Hedrich’s arrest and the burglary charge against McNeill stem from a reported robbery in which Hedrich and McNeill, according to police reports of the incident, conspired to rob a single individual in the parking lot of Port Williams Beach just northeast of Sequim.
Beach parking lot
At about 6 p.m. Nov. 15, according to a certification of probable cause filed in the Hedrich case, the individual who reported being robbed drove Hedrich — known only to the reporting party as Richard — to the beach parking lot to meet McNeill, who had driven her own car.
Once there, the reporting party and Hedrich joined McNeill in her car, soon after which Hedrich pulled out what appeared to be a gun from the back seat.
According to police reports, Hedrich told McNeill and the reporting party he was going to rob them both, took the reporting party’s purse and got out of the car.
Hedrich then reportedly joined a fourth person in a car waiting at the beach parking lot and drove away.
McNeill told investigators she knew the gun Hedrich had was only a BB gun and that she was never in danger, as McNeill and Hedrich had planned to rob the reporting party beforehand.
McNeill would go on to tell authorities about a second attempt to rob the same person, according to police reports, though she said Hedrich was only involved in the Port Williams Beach encounter.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
