Local News

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, April 17, 2008 Everett man pleads guilty to kidnapping ex-girlfriend By Jim Haley Herald Writer A man who brutally attacked and kidnapped his ex-girlfriend last year could spend up to 12 years in prison. Timothy Ray Bland, 27, of Everett pleaded guilty Wednesday to kidnapping, assault, burglary and three other felonies. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 12 in Snohomish County Superior Court. Prosecutors originally charged him with kidnapping, first-degree rape and witness tampering in the July 12 attack on the woman. In a plea bargain with prosecutors, he pleaded to a total of six felonies and the rape charge was dropped. In addition, Bland faces a drug charge in U.S. District Court, deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson said. Bland's bail has been maintained at $2 million since his arrest in July, partly because of his apparent access to cash, Matheson said. When he was arrested in an Everett motel, officers found nearly $90,000. Before his arrest, authorities seized another $300,000 in connection with a drug case, court documents said. Documents didn't say whether the $300,000 seizure was related to the federal indictment. In addition to the kidnapping and assault, Bland on Wednesday pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, having methamphetamine and committing malicious mischief. The victim told Snohomish County sheriff's detectives that Bland forced her into his car and beat her before driving to the motel room where he had been staying. Inside, he raped her at gunpoint and threatened to kill her, documents said. He left her bloody and bruised from the belt buckle he used to strike her, documents said. The woman escaped when Bland, who had been on a meth binge, passed out. When she got home, she found that Bland had broken into her house and scribbled insults on the walls, ransacked the place, stolen financial documents and her father's ashes, and dumped pictures of her son in the toilet. Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or jhaley@heraldnet.com.

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