The owner of a nuisance house situated across the street from Covington Middle School was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for drug, weapon and stolen property possession.
William Gregory Rathgeber, 57, of Vancouver pleaded guilty Nov. 28 in Clark County Superior Court to two counts of possession of methamphetamine with the intent to deliver, second-degree possession of stolen property and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm between two cases.
On Nov. 19, 2016, officers with the Safe Streets Task Force, Vancouver Police Neighborhood Response Team and Clark County Tactical Detective Unit, assisted by Southwest Washington Regional SWAT, served a search warrant at Rathgeber’s house, 6114 N.E. 112th Ave., alleging that the house was being used to distribute methamphetamine.
Officers reportedly found two glass pipes, which contained suspected methamphetamine, a plastic cup of the drug, 60 grams of suspected methamphetamine in a wall safe and a digital scale, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
They also seized two handguns and seven rifles, one of which was reported stolen, in the living area of a small shed on the property. Witnesses said that Rathgeber purchased the firearms and stored them in the shed because he can’t legally possess them, the affidavit states.
Rathgeber told officers he was living inside a large shop on the property. He denied knowing about any methamphetamine or firearms found inside his bedroom or the shop, court records state. However, there was no evidence that Rathgeber had been staying in the shop, police said.
A similar situation unfolded in May 2016.
Officers with the sheriff’s office’s tactical team and Vancouver Police Department served a search warrant at Rathgeber’s residence on May 4, 2016, looking for drugs and stolen property. They found small storage bags of suspected methamphetamine and three digital scales with suspected methamphetamine residue, according to a separate probable cause affidavit.
A witness told police that Rathgeber paid him with methamphetamine in exchange for work performed at the property, the affidavit states.
“I made some mistakes,” Rathgeber told the court Thursday, later adding that “things spiraled out of control.”
In addition to 72 months in prison, Rathgeber will serve 12 months of community custody in each case. He was given credit for 394 days in custody.
His Orchards house, which sits at the corner of Northeast 112th and Rosewood avenues, has been the subject of complaints for numerous code violations, including having inoperable vehicles in an urban zone, debris in an urban zone, occupied travel trailers, storage containers without permits, building without permits and illegal commercial storage.
A civil trial to address the nuisance property is scheduled for March 19 to 21 in Superior Court.
Kevin Pridemore, lead code enforcement coordinator, said there’s been some effort made on cleaning up the property over the last 30 to 60 days, and code enforcement is conducting monthly inspections.
A two-story shop on the property was destroyed in an early-morning fire in May. Pridemore said most of the burned debris has been removed.
“I would imagine they removed more than 100 cubic yards,” he said. Still, the property remains in violation of the public nuisance ordinance.
The county has levied more than $350,000 in liens against the property. The liens won’t be updated, Pridemore said, until the case goes to court.
