By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A Randle man who says he was just trying to keep a 16-year-old girl away from drugs when he bound her hands with electrical tape has been sentenced to eight months in jail.
Jeffrey S. Plaas, 45, pleaded guilty this week to unlawful imprisonment and fourth-degree assault, domestic violence. He denied the teenager was his girlfriend or had ever been.
“My client’s motivation behind this was genuine, he has a close friend who happened to be getting into the drug scene,” defense attorney Jacob Clark told a judge on Wednesday. “His actions behind his motivation was unquestionably wrong, and I think he understands that.”
Plaas was arrested early last month after deputies responded to a call about a dispute between a male and a female behind a cafe in Randle. Deputies were told the male had slapped the female, and the pair were thought to have walked to the area of McKay Street.
Deputies hearing screaming and shouting from Plaas’s open garage found the teenage girl with a bloody nose and her hands tied behind her back; she said Plaas was her boyfriend, according to authorities.
Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead on Wednesday morning recommended Plaas spend six months in jail; the standard sentencing range for the offense is three to eight months.
Plaas told Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler he was sorry for the way he went about it.
Lawler called it an egregious act and chose eight months in jail with a year on community custody after he is released.
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Read background on the case here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter