[1]Arrestee Dale A. Paine and temporary defense attorney Joely O’Rourke talk in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A 61-year-old man who has reportedly not stopped trying to talk with Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer since 2013 when he was prosecuted for a DUI was arrested and charged after crossing a line.
Dale A. Paine is the source of hundreds of threatening voice mails, faxes and telephone calls, a special appointed deputy prosecuting attorney told a judge yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court.
He even phoned the elected prosecutor at home, and once confronted him in an elevator, Thurston County Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Wheeler said.
This summer, Paine allegedly said something that alarmed Meyer:
“Paine told Meyer to ‘listen very carefully’ that he was going to ‘send Mr. Meyer to be with his family’,” Wheeler wrote in court documents.
About a month later, in one of approximately 50 messages received in just one week, Paine said he was coming to visit Meyer at the courthouse, according to Wheeler.
Paine, who is described by authorities as transient and recently living in Gainsville, Florida, showed up about 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday at the Lewis County Law and Justice Center, and was taken in to custody, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
Meyer told the investigating deputy he thinks the man has mental health issues.
When Paine was brought before a judge yesterday afternoon, he kept talking out of turn causing the judge to leave the bench while temporary defense attorney Joely O’Rourke spoke with him.
Wheeler asked the judge to hold Paine on $25,000 bail and ordered him to refrain from contacting Meyer.
Judge Nelson Hunt didn’t think that was enough, and made the amount $100,000.
“As far as I’m concerned, this is outrageous behavior,” Hunt said. “What I’ve witnessed today doesn’t help any.”
O’Rourke told the judge her client has absolutely no criminal history. He has a residence in Everett, she said.
According to charging documents, when Meyer reported to a deputy on June 30 what had been going on, he said sometimes the calls or contacts would come two to three times in a day, even at night. And they came from various locations where Paine was at the time, even possibly from as far away as New Mexico and Florida.
Meyer indicated he repeatedly told Paine to stop calling, Wheeler wrote.
The sheriff’s office yesterday morning described the case with victims being several elected and county officials.
Although Meyer told the deputy he was the victim of systematic and repeated felony harassment since 2013, Deputy Prosecutor Wheeler filed only two charges.
They are both harassment of a criminal justice participant performing official duties, on or around June 30 of this year and near the end of July.
Paine’s arraignment was scheduled for this afternoon, but was postponed.