The Columbian | Serving Clark County, Washington

After Michael D. Collins was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison last month in the near-fatal beating of a cross-country skier, prosecutors had some loose ends to tie up.

Namely, what do they do with two pending felony charges in Clark County?

Those charges include first-degree custodial interference relating to Michael Collins reportedly taking his 17-year-old son, Teven Collins, in violation of a custody order and his failing to register as a sex offender in Vancouver.

Prosecutors decided this week to proceed with the charges and are in the process of filing paperwork to send Michael Collins back to Clark County to stand trial. He is currently being held at the Shelton prison.

“We’re going to press on,” said Clark County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Denny Hunter.

A first appearance court date hasn’t yet been set.

On Feb. 24, a Skamania County Superior Court jury convicted Collins, 34, of first-degree attempted murder and first-degree robbery for the vicious attack and robbery last year of Washougal’s Kevin Tracey. Teven Collins took a plea deal to a lesser charge of second-degree attempted murder and received eight years in prison.

At trial, jurors heard that he and his father were camping near Dougan Falls to hide from police, who were looking to arrest Michael Collins on the warrant alleging failure to register.

The two had subsisted on cheap noodles, wild onions and mandarin oranges. When the food ran out, they plotted to confront, rob and kill someone, so as to not leave a witness.

The Collinses landed on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted” shortly after the Feb. 9, 2009, attack, and were apprehended in Ensenada, Mexico, in March based on a tip generated by the show.

A few weeks after the attack, Teven Collins’ mother, Anna Logan of Washougal, had reported her son as a missing runaway to police, according to court documents. She said that she had briefly sent Teven to live with his grandparents in Montana but soon discovered he had disappeared in November 2008 and reunited with his father in Vancouver.

Michael Collins was only allowed visitation rights on certain days with Teven and his brothers and was not providing child support, she told officers. Also, Logan said, “Michael has not been present in the boys’ lives since sometime in the year 2000,” according to court documents.

Prosecutors filed the charges against Michael Collins last spring, but the cases have been on hold until the Skamania County case resolved.

Hunter said prosecutors took into account “the extent of influence exerted on Teven Collins” as a reason to proceed this week.

“It appears to be fairly substantial,” he said.

As for the failure to register charge, Michael Collins has an extensive criminal history that includes a conviction of second-degree assault with sexual motivation and a juvenile conviction of second-degree child molestation.

Hunter could not comment on a sentencing range for Collins on the two charges, saying that would be determined at a later date.

Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.

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