Thomas L. Pleasant waits his turn to go in front of a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The suspect in a robbery and rape of a woman working alone at night at the Chehalis Subway shop from almost eight years ago appeared in Lewis County Superior Court today, to finally face the charges against him.
Thomas L. Pleasant, now 50, was transported from Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen where he is serving a sentence of life without parole.
In 2008, Pleasant was convicted of three first-degree robberies in Cowlitz County, as well as second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and first-degree burglary there, according to Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer.
He also has a first-degree robbery conviction from 1989, according to Meyer.
While he was still in jail in Cowlitz County, he requested to talk with detectives and confessed to the July 16, 2008 hold up in Chehalis, saying he tied up the female worker with an electrical cord and put her in a walk-in cooler, according to charging documents.
He denied sexually assaulting her.
Lewis County prosecutors filed charges of first-degree robbery and first-degree rape on Sept. 9, 2008.
It’s not clear why he wasn’t brought to Lewis County sooner than now, Meyer said, other than the wait until after his Cowlitz cases wrapped up. Meyer didn’t become prosecutor until 2011.
“This is kind of an insurance policy,” Meyer said, suggesting the possibility of appeals in the other cases.
He said he has interviewed the victim and she indicated she was willing to go forward.
Pleasant, whose court documents from 2008 show a Centralia address for his residence, was brought before a judge this afternoon for a brief hearing.
Temporary defense attorney Joely O’Rourke said her client had no income and qualified for a court-appointed lawyer. His arraignment was scheduled for next Thursday.
Court documents describe the details Chehalis police learned from the victim.
She said she was preparing for closing about 10:44 p.m. and was alone as another employee had just left, when a male came in through the back door and told her to look down.
She dropped to her knees, saw a gun that looked like a long .22 with a silencer, she said. The male demanded money, smashed the wall phone, took her cell phone and $22, she said.
She said she crawled to the cash register and gave him about $320.
He then asked her if she wanted to live, and with a gun to her back, raped her, according to her statement.
The victim said she eventually was able to free her tied hands and trip the store’s alarm.
The Subway is at the Twin City Town Center on Northwest Louisiana Avenue.
Court documents go on to describe the investigation that followed.
Chehalis police reviewed video surveillance footage from Wal-Mart and saw a vehicle described as a light colored truck with a canopy or a long sport utility vehicle, in which a person got out and went into the Movie Gallery.
About two weeks later, Chehalis detective Rick McNamara saw a robbery bulletin from the Longview Police Department with a photo of a similar truck.
Another officer thought it resembled a truck he’d pulled over a few days earlier and a check of its registration showed it was owned by Pleasant.
Within a few days, Castle Rock police located the vehicle, and Pleasant was soon apprehended.
When Pleasant was interview by McNamara, he said the gun he used was the same one he used in the Longview robbery; he said it looked real, like a .357 and he threw it away because it got him in trouble.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
This dude is a real waste of toilte paper…