A Vancouver man who brutally attacked a friend whom he believed stole from him was sentenced Wednesday to 8 1/2 years in prison.
Jerrel James Revette, 30, pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court to attempted first-degree assault. He originally faced attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and first-degree robbery, but the charges were amended as part of a plea deal, court records show.
Revette and two other men beat and robbed Justin R. Boespflug in the early morning of Aug. 12 in Ridgefield. Revette told investigators he helped plan the robbery because Boespflug had stolen from him, and “this was retaliation to his theft,” according to an affidavit of probable cause.
One co-defendant, Eron M. Mendoza, 28, of Sherwood, Ore., also pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree assault Dec. 5 and was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison and 16 months of community custody. A trial for the other co-defendant, Evan D. Ebeo, 32, of Sherwood, Ore., is scheduled for Feb. 11.
Ridgefield police were called about 2:40 a.m. to the fire station at 911 N. 65th Ave. for a man banging on a side door. The man, identified as Boespflug, collapsed in the station’s driveway. His hands were covered in blood, and his face was swollen, bloody and bruised. An officer asked him what happened, and Boespflug said he had been “robbed and beaten up by his friends,” according to the affidavit.
Boespflug said Revette and the other suspects picked him up for a party, but on the way, Revette pulled the car into a church parking lot in the 1500 block of North 65th Avenue. He claimed he lost phone service and asked Boespflug to look up directions for the party. The address didn’t exist, however, the affidavit says.
Revette was arrested days after the attack at a home in the Five Corners area.
He told investigators that Ebeo put a rope around Boespflug’s neck and started to strangle him from the back seat, while Mendoza, also seated in the back, grabbed a knife and tried to stab Boespflug. He said he tried to stop Mendoza and then let Boespflug out of the car, court records state.
However, Boespflug told police that Revette was punching him, chased him with a baton as he ran away and then tried to run him over, according to the affidavit
The assailants stole Boespflug’s state welfare benefits card, a Nike Air Jordan shoe and hockey gloves. Police found some of the items belonging to Boespflug in Revette’s room, the affidavit says.
