Man who threatened teens gets jail sentence

MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake man who threatened a group of teenagers at a Moses Lake park-and-ride will be spending a couple of months in jail.

Armando Rubio Jr., 30, of Moses Lake, pleaded guilty in Grant County Superior Court to possession of methamphetamine and second-degree vehicle prowling.

Following a joint recommendation between Deputy Prosecutor Anna Gigliotti and defense attorney Stephen Kozer, Judge John Antosz sentenced Rubio to three months on the meth charge and 364 days with 274 days suspended for two years on the vehicle prowling charge. A count of harassment was dismissed in a plea agreement between Gigliotti and Kozer.

In the early morning hours of Oct. 29 the Moses Lake Police Department received a report of a vehicle prowl at the Interstate 90/Highway 17 park-and-ride. Police learned a group of Moses Lake High School students returned to the park-and-ride after a trip to Silverwood Theme Park and found Rubio digging around in the trunk of one of their vehicles.

The teens confronted Rubio, but he told one of them he would stab him if he didn’t leave him alone. Rubio left the area on a BMX bike after making the threat. The teens gave officers a description of the suspect and police realized the description fit Rubio, as an MLPD officer previously took a call at the park-and-ride and ran into Rubio in the area.

Rubio’s BMX bike and his belongings were located behind Experience Powersports on North Frontage Road a few hours later. Deputy Ric Char and K-9 Chicka responded to the scene to assist in the search for the suspect. Rubio was tracked and spotted walking across a field. He surrendered without further incident and was taken into custody.

“Rubio admitted he was breaking into vehicles. Rubio said he didn’t take anything and admitted to telling (the victim) he was going to stab him. He said he told (the victim) he was going to stab him. He said he told (the victim) that because he was scared and didn’t want (him) to follow him,” wrote an officer.

Officers found a knife in the field where Rubio was located, along with another knife in his ditched property behind Experience Powersports. Rubio came clean and admitted both of the knives were his. Police also recovered a first aid box in Rubio’s items, which contained a piece of tin foil and a half a gram of meth.