A Vancouver couple already accused in a daylong, violent crime spree against random people on Oct. 9 were once again in court Friday to face a new allegation.
Daniel Perez Rodriguez, 24, and Ashley L. Griffin, 19, appeared in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of first-degree robbery.
The two were in court last month after allegedly attacking two moms at the play area at Vancouver Mall, and following a man home and assaulting him in the Fourth Plain Village neighborhood.
They also appeared the day prior with a third co-defendant, Matthew L. Smith, 35, of Vancouver, in an alleged robbery and assault of a woman near Vancouver Lake Regional Park. And Perez Rodriguez is accused of approaching a man near the Walgreens in Uptown Village and assaulting and robbing him, according to court documents.
In the newest allegation, Clark County sheriff’s deputies were called about 10:15 p.m. Oct. 9 to an apartment in the 1800 block of Northeast 104th Loop to take a report of a robbery that had occurred in the previous half hour. Deputies met with the victim, Kevin Weddle, nearby, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Weddle said he was walking home from work, south on Northeast Highway 99, and was on his iPad when a man walked toward him. He closed his iPad, he said, as the man approached and yelled, “Give me all your (explicit)!” Weddle said the man, who was wearing a black mask and hooded sweatshirt, pointed a black air pistol at him, the affidavit states.
The man tried to take the iPad, Weddle said, but Weddle wrestled it away from him. The man then put the pistol to Weddle’s neck and pulled the trigger eight to 10 times, he said. However, no projectiles came out.
Weddle said he started to run back toward his workplace, but a dark-colored SUV pulled up onto the curb blocking his path. The assailant and a woman were inside. The man started yelling and cursing at him. Weddle kept running. He said the vehicle cut him off two more times, but he managed to escape each time, court records said.
While taking his report, deputies learned that Vancouver police were at a similar call near Vancouver Lake and had suspects in custody. Weddle later identified his assailant as Perez Rodriguez. He couldn’t tell for sure if Griffin was the woman in the SUV, he said, but her hair matched, the affidavit states.
Perez Rodriguez is being held on $375,000 bail. Griffin’s bail is set at $240,000, court records show. They will be arraigned later this month.
