Seven Washington State Employees Credit Union (WSECU) branches between Puyallup and Chehalis closed early on Tuesday due to a death threat a customer service representative allegedly received from a Randle resident.
The customer service representative had reportedly called a Randle woman “regarding issues with her account” when her husband, Brandon R. Holt, 40, allegedly got on the phone, and “threatened to respond to a branch and kill them,” according to charging documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Wednesday.
Audio recording of the phone call reportedly captured the male speaker identifying himself as “Brandon” and then saying “he knows they are calling about issues with the fees, then states ‘I’ll be there shortly to kill you all.’”
WSECU’s vice president of facilities and safety managers told responding Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputies “they believed this was a valid threat, and closed seven branches from Puyallup to Chehalis early,” according to court documents.
When questioned by a deputy, Holt allegedly “stated he was home when he received the phone call from customer service, and that he was just frustrated and that is why he made the threats to kill.”
Lewis County Jail records indicate Holt was arrested and booked into the jail just before 8:45 p.m. on April 16.
He was charged Wednesday, April 17, in Lewis County Superior Court with one count of felony harassment, threat to kill. The charge is a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Holt has no criminal history and had no firearms in his residence at the time of his arrest, according to defense attorney Rachael Tiller, who asked for Holt to be released Wednesday on unsecured bail. The prosecution asked for $25,000 bail due to the nature of the threat.
“Given the threat that was made, and (that) words have meaning and they impact people greatly, I’m going to require some secured bail,” Judge James Lawler said Wednesday, setting Holt’s bail at $10,000.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, April 25.
