Four people face felony charges in Clark County Superior Court for allegedly luring a furnace repairman to a Battle Ground residence and assaulting him over supposedly unfinished work.
Wes-Lee A. Perry, 47, and Kimberlee L. Howard, 47, face charges of second-degree assault, and first-degree extortion, kidnapping and robbery.
Court records show co-defendants Jordin D. Lewis and Domenique A. Hill also will face charges, but documents haven’t been filed in their cases.
Clark County Superior Court Judge Daniel Stahnke set bail at $75,000 for Perry and $50,000 for Howard. They will be arraigned March 10.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Bruce Brown drove to a home at 1303 S.E. Fourth Ave. on the night of Feb. 9 after a woman called for furnace repair.
When Brown arrived, Perry, the owner of the home, directed him to a furnace in the garage. Brown spotted Howard inside the residence and recognized her from a job a few months prior. She is the mother of a customer, identified as Lewis, for an unfinished installation in Portland, Brown told police.
Brown was inspecting the furnace when Perry approached from behind. As the handyman turned, Perry pushed Brown’s face, causing him to fall, and started choking him, according to the affidavit.
Brown passed out. When he woke up, Hill was also inside the garage. Hill was reported to be Lewis’ cousin. Brown tried to escape but was stopped; Perry and Hill took turns choking him and yelled about how he owed Lewis $7,500 for not finishing the Portland job, according to the affidavit.
Brown said he was continually choked for 45 minutes, until Lewis arrived and also started assaulting him. Lewis held Brown by the throat and rifled through his pockets.
Eventually, one of the men drove Brown home. Brown told police he was unsure where he was being driven, and he feared during the course of the kidnapping that he’d be killed, court records say.
Brown was later informed at a hospital that he had internal neck and throat bruising. The affidavit says he was unable to swallow food for a week.
Both Howard and Perry were arrested Wednesday. They allegedly told police they lured Brown to the house to confront him about the money. Howard said she was never in the garage and was unsure what had transpired; Perry said $3,100 was taken from the victim but denied assaulting him, according to the affidavit.
