Bilderback faces three strikes

Prosecutor Denis Tracy March 8 filed five formal charges against Bobby Bilderback, 48, Malden, in superior court. The first charge, second degree assault, carried a ‘three strikes’ notice which said a conviction could lead to a life term in prison without possibility of parole.

That charge and four other charges also carried a notice of intent by the prosecutor to seek an exceptional sentence beyond the state’s standard range in the event Bilderback doesn’t receive a ‘three strikes’ life conviction.

The ‘three strikes’ notice states Bilderback had been convicted of two “most serious” offenses under provisions of the state’s ‘three strikes’ law.

Bilderback’s prior felonies include a Chelan County murder conviction in 1987 and a homicide by drugs conviction here in 2013 involving the death of 17-year-old Donavin Stapert at Malden. Bilderback was sentenced to 68 months in prison on the 2013 conviction, but he was released from the state prison system in December.

In addition to the assault, Bilderback was charged Wednesday with two counts of illegal possession of a weapon as a convicted felon and two counts of possession of methamphetamine.

The assault charge relates to a Feb. 27 investigation in which Bilderback allegedly threatened a man twice while ordering him to leave his residence. The alleged victim said Bilderback threatened him with a .45 pistol which had an Idaho State Patrol seal on it.

The account also said deputies responded to another alleged assault call at the Bilderback residence four days earlier involving a different victim who said he had seen Bilderback shooting a pistol in a vacant lot near his residence several days earlier. The description of that gun was similar to the one described by the other alleged victim Feb. 27.

The report also noted four deputies conducted a warrant search at the Bilderback residence in Malden Feb. 28, one day after the alleged second assault report, and found a drug pipe under a bed which tested positive for methamphetamine residue.

Bilderback was ordered held in jail without bail at a first appearance March 6 after being arrested by U.S. marshals in Spokane March 3.