Ephrata man sentenced after guilty plea

by EMRY DINMAN
Staff Writer | June 30, 2020 11:40 PM

EPHRATA — A 31-year-old Ephrata man was sentenced to just over a year in prison following an incident at a Soap Lake gas station, according to court documents.

Daniel Paul Harrett pleaded guilty to second-degree malicious mischief and first-degree criminal trespass and was sentenced to a year and a day, the minimum for a prison sentence.

Harrett had been convicted of a number of other misdemeanor and felony offenses ranging back to 2006.

Police were dispatched around 11:30 p.m. on May 3 to Hawk’s Fuel Station for a report that someone had broken in by smashing a window in the back. Officers set up a perimeter around the building to wait for more units and announced their presence to the suspect, according to police reports.

While backup units began to arrive, the store’s owner provided officers with live footage of the inside of the building, which police used to identify the suspect as Harrett. Harrett was also reportedly seen on the footage using a meth pipe, according to law enforcement.

The responding officer wrote in court documents that he had personally trespassed Harrett from the gas station during a previous incident. In addition, the officer noted that Harrett had been involved in a call earlier that day involving a firearm, though further specifics were not provided.

Officers used a loudspeaker in their patrol car to announce to Harrett that he was under arrest on second-degree burglary and ordered him to exit the building. When Harrett didn’t comply, a team was organized to open the front door and prop it open in order to deploy a K-9 unit. Officers located and removed a metal claw, which had been used to barricade the door shut, and used a trash can to prop the door open, according to court documents.

Officers warned Harrett that a K-9 was going to be deployed unless he gave himself up, at which point Harrett exited the building and allowed himself to be arrested. A single bullet was located inside the building, as well as what responding officers believed was residue from narcotics.