The second of two suspect in an alleged robbery that took place in June in Chehalis made his first appearance on a number of felony charges Friday.
Keith Lee Swain, 34, has been charged with first-degree robbery, first-degree assault, first-degree burglary, second-degree theft and theft of a motor vehicle.
Swain was initially identified as a Lakewood resident, but is listed in his charging documents as a transient from the Centralia area.
His arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 19. He is being held in the Lewis County Jail on $100,000 bail.
Justin Paul Neuenswander, 39, of Centralia, was charged in November with the same charges. Neuenswander is in custody in the Lewis County Jail on $50,000 bail.
According to court documents and a report from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, detectives responded on June 5, 2019 to a location in the 100 block of Fircrest Road in Chehalis, where the alleged victim reported that he was assaulted in his home by two men wearing masks.
The alleged victim told detectives he came home to find the two men in his residence, one of whom was armed with an AR-15-style rifle. The men then reportedly tied up and blindfolded the victim, “demanded access to his gun safe and continually struck him with with the rifle,” according to the sheriff’s office report.
The victim reported the suspects assaulted him over the course of an hour and ransacked his house. They then took the victim’s truck and his roommate’s car and left.
Neuenswander was identified as a person of interest. In September, detectives got a search warrant to get his cellphone records and identified calls going through cell towers close to the victim’s house to and from Swain’s cellphone.
“This information from the cell data records is consistent with Mr. Neuenswander casing (the victim’s) residence, driving to Mr. Swain’s residence to retrieve Mr. Swain, and then returning to (the victim’s) residence to commit the burglary and subsequent robbery,” according to the sheriff’s office report.
Swain was reportedly arrested in Pierce County in July with a rifle and suppressor matching the description from the robbery victim.
A warrant was issued for his arrest in this case on Nov. 18. According to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office, he was transported for his first appearance in the case Friday from Washington Corrections Center in Shelton.
