PORT ANGELES — A 58-year-old Texas man has been sentenced to slightly more than six years in prison for taking a Port Angeles woman’s car and personal belongings at knife point in December.
Garland Lavell Seals pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree robbery in Clallam County Superior Court last week after being accused of taking a woman’s car, cash, cellphone, car keys and other personal items during a confrontation at about 2 a.m. Dec. 29 in Wendy’s restaurant parking lot at 1830 E. First St. in Port Angeles.
He was sentenced to 75 months in prison and 18 months community supervision.
Seals, who according to court documents apologized to the court for his actions during his sentencing, also will pay various court fees and a little more than $2,000 in restitution to the victim.
Seals reportedly threatened the woman with a knife and hit her in the face before driving off in her car.
The woman’s car was found abandoned the next day not far from the restaurant, according to Port Angeles Police Department accounts.
In a written statement included in court documents, the victim said she was traumatized by the robbery and that she still does not feel completely safe months after it occurred.
“To this day, I am still nervous going back to work and am constantly looking around to make sure no one is hiding waiting to attack me again,” the victim wrote.
Sequim police officers found Seals in his 1998 Chevrolet Blazer in downtown Sequim the morning of Jan. 9 and arrested him after they failed to find him while serving a search warrant at a West Sequim Bay Road address associated with Seals.
Officers from Sequim and Port Angeles police departments, Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Air and Marine served the warrant at the Sequim Bay Road address.
Seals also was arrested for investigation of a felony parole violation out of Harris County, Texas, associated with an armed robbery.
According to court documents, Seals had been sentenced for two counts of second-degree robbery in 1992, both in Harris County.
Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
