A Vancouver man was found guilty Thursday of trying to hire someone to attack two Westfield Vancouver mall employees who were involved in a stalking and harassment case against him.
Alan D. Dietchweiler, 59, was convicted of solicitation to commit second-degree assault for plotting between Oct. 18, 2010, and Jan. 1, 2011, to have the mall employees seriously injured. Dietchweiler apparently was enraged over misdemeanor stalking and harassment charges against him involving the employees.
He originally was accused of plotting against four employees, but Judge Scott Collier found there was only enough evidence to prove that two were targets.
Collier announced the guilty verdict Thursday afternoon following a bench trial last month.
Dietchweiler walked in the mall for exercise and reportedly began stalking and harassing the employees in early 2010.
He enlisted the maintenance manager at his east Vancouver apartment complex to perform the assaults, requesting that he “needed someone to break every bone in these people’s bodies and make their faces unrecognizable,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
The maintenance manager alerted the Vancouver Police Department, and Dietchweiler was arrested Jan. 1, 2011, after he gave the man $7,500 for the assault, Collier said during the verdict reading.
Dietchweiler told the maintenance manager he wanted the assaults to happen the week of Jan. 3, in anticipation that he would plead guilty to the stalking charge that week and be placed on house arrest. He said that would make a good alibi, according to the affidavit.
Collier said the misdemeanor case in District Court has since been resolved.
Dietchweiler was taken into custody following the verdict. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to set a sentencing date.
