Two Men Face Robbery, Harassment Charges After Dispute Over Child’s Bike

A pair of Centralia men are facing second-degree robbery charges in Lewis County Superior Court stemming from an alleged physical confrontation over a bicycle.

Peter Allen Anderson, 37, of Centralia is also charged with a count of harassment — threat to kill, in the same incident. That is a class C felony to go with the class B felony robbery accusation. 

Judge Andrew Toynbee set Anderson’s bail at $50,000. The reasons Toynbee gave included Anderson’s extensive criminal history, including one instance of jumping bail.

Adam Patrick Chapman, 33, a transient of the Centralia area, is facing a robbery charge in the incident with the bike, as well as a fourth-degree assault and one count of harassment — threat to kill, domestic violence accusations from separate incidents. According to court documents, a woman reported Chapman threatened to kill her multiple times over the past month and had assaulted her recently.

Toynbee cited Chapman’s previous violations of no-contact orders related to domestic violence as he set bail at $60,000. 

Officers reported they arrived at a dispute on Wednesday along Main Street in Centralia to find Anderson claiming that a person across the street had stolen his son’s bicycle.

He then claimed to have been punched while trying to get the bike back, but had no visible injuries, according to a probable cause affidavit. Anderson said his son had traded bikes with someone but later decided he wanted his old bike back. 

The man Anderson accused of theft said that Anderson and another male later identified as Chapman tried to take the bike.

The man told police that Anderson punched him. Officers observed a cut on the alleged victim’s nose and a gash on his leg. Witnesses at the scene corroborated the victim’s according to court documents. 

Chapman, contacted later on Wednesday, denied involvement in bike incident, then said he only intervened verbally, according to the affidavit. 

The previous day, the officer who arrested Chapman was told by a person he was transporting to the Lewis County Jail that he had seen Chapman assault his girlfriend on Sunday at a homeless encampment near the intersection of L and Third streets in Centralia.

The female victim was present at Chapman’s arrest and became emotional when the officer asked her about the alleged assault, according to court documents.

She said she wouldn’t speak with the officer until Chapman had been taken to jail. Later, she gave a recorded statement alleging that he had struck her with his knee and slapped her twice. The affidavit states that she also accused Chapman of threatening to kill her and telling her that she “would be done” if she screamed or called the police. She also alleged that he said he would slice her throat before the police arrived.