Man accused of biting Yakima police dog pleaded guilty to lesser charges in district court

YAKIMA — Prosecutors dismissed felony charges earlier this month against a man who was accused of biting a Yakima police dog during a standoff last year.

Charles Edward Hoffert, 63, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault and second-degree animal cruelty in Yakima County District Court as part of a plea deal. In return, prosecutors dismissed with prejudice charges of felony harassment, resisting arrest and harming a police dog stemming from a 2022 standoff at his Summitview Avenue home, as well as second-degree malicious mischief and reckless endangerment charges stemming from a 2020 incident at his home.

Hoffert was sentenced to 364 days in jail, with 331 days suspended and given credit for the time he served in the Yakima County jail. He is also ordered to get a mental health evaluation. He is no longer in jail.

By dismissing the charges with prejudice, prosecutors cannot refile them.

In the 2020 incident, one of Hoffert’s neighbors in the 2200 block of Summitview Avenue said his house was hit by a gunshot the evening of March 26. Officers also found a power transformer was also hit, and traced the shots to Hoffert’s house, where they found him inside with a scoped rifle, triggering a standoff that lasted more than two hours.

Hoffert was out on bail on those charges on June 16, 2022, when one of his former coworkers said Hoffert had threatened to come down to their building and kill several people, according to court documents. He also sent 50 text messages containing death threats, the documents said.

When police and a designated crisis responder went to Hoffert’s home, he told officers that they would have to kill him if they wanted to arrest him, court documents said. Police cordoned off a six-block stretch of Summitview Avenue as police negotiators attempted to get him to surrender during a 6 1/2-hour standoff.

Police finally entered Hoffert’s house after putting tear gas and pepper spray inside and found Hoffert barricaded in a bathroom, the documents said. He attacked the officers and YPD K-9 Trex, biting the dog on the ear, the documents said.