PORT ANGELES — A four-day trial has been set for a Port Angeles man on five charges that grew out of a three-hour standoff last week at his home off Mount Pleasant Road.
Arthur Coulon Jr., 40, pleaded not guilty Friday in Clallam County Superior Court to single charges of first degree robbery, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, and attempting to elude a pursing police vehicle, and two charges of harassment-threats to kill.
He remained in the Clallam County jail on Saturday on $300,000 bail on the five county charges but without bond on a state Department of Corrections warrant for escape from community custody related to 2015 drug conviction in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Superior Court Judge Brent Basden set the trial date and a status hearing for Aug. 30.
Basden also issued post-arraignment no-contact orders against Coulon for two women ages 22 and 25, one of whom Coulon allegedly robbed early Monday evening.
The 25-year-old told authorities Coulon knows her mother.
Coulon allegedly robbed her of $100 at gunpoint while the two sat in his car off U.S. Highway 101 near Mount Pleasant Road before Coulon led authorities on a high-speed chase that ended up at his home.
The woman told authorities Coulon saw them at a store on Mount Pleasant Road at about 6:30 p.m. Monday when Coulon asked her to come to his car.
She said when she sat in the passenger seat, Coulon pulled out a gun, put it in his lap pointed toward her, and demanded all of her money.
After taking the $100, Coulon told her to get out of his car, after which he took off, according to the probable cause statement.
Both women said Coulon had a gun. They followed him while one called 9-1-1.
They said they followed Coulon to a gravel pit off Mount Pleasant Road shortly before 7 p.m. Monday, where he saw them and allegedly pointed the gun at them.
Coulon, spotted by deputies, fled at speeds up to 85 mp south on Mount Pleasant Road, across Draper Road and north on Monroe Road to U.S. Highway 101, swerving into oncoming lanes, according to the probable cause statement.
He sped east to the Walmart exit on 101, then back to Mount Pleasant Road, ending up at his home in the 800 block of Mount Pleasant Road, at the intersection with Gravel Pit Road.
He lives with his girlfriend in one of two houses on property owned by his girlfriend’s father, Sheriff’s Sgt. John Keegan said Friday.
The woman and her father were outside for more than three hours during the standoff, which drew a dozen police, State Patrol and Sheriff’s Department vehicles and led to a brief roadblock at the intersection.
Coulon barricaded himself alone inside the home, eventually coming out after talking for more than three hours via cellphone with a Sheriff’s Office negotiator.
At 10:15 p.m. Monday, as Coulon was being taken into custody without incident, his girlfriend asked him what happened.
“I tried to get us money so we could get out of here,” he said, according to the probable cause statement.
He said he threw the gun out of the window during the chase and had been “high on meth,” according to the statement.
He also allegedly admitted to driving his Dodge Neon compact car at high speeds and failing to stop at intersections during the pursuit.
Keegan said the gun has not been found following searches by a deputy and a search-and-rescue team of the Morse Creek curve area where Coulon said he threw the gun.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
