[1]Natrone D. Bostick appears before a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – It took about 16 minutes today to decide on and hand down a 15-year sentence for one of three people involved in a violent robbery at a rural Chehalis home, that followed a visit by an “escort” contacted on Backpage.com.
Natrone D. Bostick, 19, of Lakewood, appeared with his lawyer Don Blair before Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler this afternoon.
Blair and Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello said they’d worked out the plea agreement with both of them recommending the same amount of prison time.
Bostick and his companion Samath L. Hem, 23, from Tacoma, were arrested back on May 3 following a shoplifting incident at Home Depot in Chehalis. Items found when their vehicle was searched linked them to an event that had taken place a few days earlier on the 900 block of Logan Hill Road outside Chehalis.
A 53-year-old rural Chehalis man reported he’d invited an escort to his home but was attacked, tied up and pistol whipped by two males who arrived with her. The victim said it occurred on April 29, but he didn’t report it until the next day. Once the victim was able to untie himself, he discovered valuables missing from his residence, including a large television and some checkbooks, according to prosecutors.
Bostick pleaded guilty last week to first-degree assault and first-degree kidnapping, as well as third-degree theft and possession of a controlled substance related to the Home Depot case. One count of first-degree robbery was dropped.
Masiello said it seemed to him both men had equal involvement in the crime, although Hem has been more cooperative with authorities.
The judge today heard from Bostick’s attorney that although it wasn’t an excuse, when he and his brother were children, his mother drove them from Florida to Washington, dropped them off at a DSHS location and Bostick has not seen his mother since, according to Masiello.
“I’m sympathetic to your situation,” Lawler told the defendant. “You’ve been dealt a lousy hand, I don’t argue that.”
The judge followed the agreed recommendation.
He imposed a 60-month sentence for the kidnapping and a 120-month term for the assault, to be served consecutively. He called it a steep price to pay and a hard lesson.
Hem’s case is proceeding, with attempts to “resolve” it without a trial, according to Masiello. He is being held in the Lewis County Jail and expected again in court next week.
Masiello said the female they believe was involved in the robbery was not the same woman who was arrested with the pair after the Home Depot incident. But law enforcement has figured out who she is, he said, adding he would say no more on the topic.
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For background, read “Backpage.com encounter results in violent home invasion in rural Chehalis” from Friday May 6, 2016, here [2]