Misty Raya, one of three people arrested after the fatal shooting of sheriff’s Detective Jeremy Brown, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Clark County Superior Court to burglary, identity theft and 32 counts of firearm theft.
Her trial is initially scheduled for Sept. 20. In the meantime, she is being held at the Clark County Jail on $1 million bail.
Raya, 35, is accused of breaking into a Hazel Dell storage unit in early June and stealing dozens of guns — including an AK-47 semiautomatic rifle — along with 20,000 to 30,000 rounds of ammunition and the owner’s credit cards.
She was arrested the night of July 23 after fleeing the shooting at The Pointe Apartments in east Vancouver with her husband, Abran Raya Leon, and brother-in-law, Guillermo Raya Leon, who allegedly shot Brown as he watched them from an unmarked SUV.
Police from several agencies were watching the trio in connection with the stolen guns, court records say.
According to Clark County Prosecutor Tony Golik, the revolver Guillermo Raya Leon used to shoot Brown was one of the stolen guns. It was found in a yard in the 8700 block of Northeast 76th Avenue, where Raya and her husband were taken into custody, court records state.
Another stolen firearm was recovered from their getaway vehicle and a third was recovered from a Toyota Prius that Guillermo Raya Leon drove. Investigators said eight more stolen firearms were recovered before the shooting in a unit Raya had rented under a false name, according to search warrant documents.
A search warrant affidavit filed July 29 says that Guillermo Raya Leon believed the remaining stolen firearms were at the apartment unit under surveillance; however, the firearms were not found there. According to court records, 11 of the 32 stolen firearms have been recovered.
Guillermo Raya Leon is being held without bail on charges of aggravated first-degree murder and possession of a stolen firearm.
An arrest warrant was issued last week for Abran Raya Leon, 28, who’s facing first-degree rendering criminal assistance for allegedly driving the getaway vehicle from the shooting scene. He is currently in federal custody.
A public memorial service for Brown at ilani on Tuesday drew thousands of people to honor the 15-year veteran of the sheriff’s office. Hundreds of police and first responder vehicles drove in a procession that morning from Clark College to ilani. Onlookers waved flags and held signs as the procession proceeded north on Interstate 5 from Vancouver. Brown’s survivors include his wife and five grown children.
