Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Other charges include making false or misleading statement, rendering criminal assistance
DAVENPORT—Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers is scheduled for an arraignment in Lincoln County District Court Wednesday, July 7 after the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney charged Magers with obstructing a law enforcement officer, making false or misleading statements to a public servant and rendering criminal assistance in the third degree, according to District Court records obtained by The Times.
Sheriff Magers is accused of committing the charges between Feb. 11-12 to prevent DUI charges being leveled against his son, Colton Magers, after Colton got into a single-car rollover crash February 11 at the intersection of Swanson Lake and Runkel Roads southwest of Creston, records state.
Sheriff Magers didn’t respond to multiple initial calls for comment.
The charges leveled by the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney stem from an investigative report conducted by Washington State Patrol Detective R.T. Spangler supporting criminal complaints that was signed off on by a WSP supervisor May 25.
According to the report, Colton Magers initially contacted his brother, Devin Magers and girlfriend, Tyanna M. Evers after his collision. Devin Magers transported Colton Magers to Sheriff Magers’ home in Wilbur, where Evers and her friend, Michaela R. Ritt-Mawdsley, met them.
Early in the morning Feb. 12, Colton Magers contacted Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office dispatch to report the crash and said he swerved to miss a deer when he ran off the road, the investigative report states.
Dispatch then contacted LCSO Sgt. Gabe Gants, who directed dispatch to call deputy Dan Christian to the scene of the crash. Christian didn’t see anything at the scene indicating an alcohol presence, but couldn’t contact Colton Magers by cell phone, the report states.
Christian then contacted Sheriff Magers at 2:30 a.m. Feb. 12, who told him he thought Colton Magers was at a hospital in Davenport or Grand Coulee for treatment, records state.
Christian tried several more times to contact Colton Magers and finally reached him at 3 p.m. Feb. 13, according to the report. He admitted to Christian he didn’t swerve to miss a deer, as he previously told dispatch, but was reaching for his cell phone and speeding. Christian gave Colton Magers a speeding ticket, according to records.
That same day, Evers contacted Gants at the Sheriff’s Office and alleged she, Colton Magers and Ritt-Mawdsley were told by Sheriff Magers to say Colton Magers had swerved to hit a deer, and Sheriff Magers wouldn’t allow Colton Magers to seek medical attention until his blood-alcohol content was zero, according to records.
Evers also said she didn’t think Colton Magers was intoxicated, and didn’t have any visible injuries, but possibly had internal injuries that Wade Magers was preventing him from addressing, the report says.
She also claimed Sheriff Magers said “If anyone asks, I did not know about this and I was never here,” according to the report.
LCSO Undersheriff Kelly Watkins contacted the Grant County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) Feb. 17 and requested they conduct a criminal investigation into Evers’ allegations. GCSO Chief Criminal Deputy Joe Kriete conducted the investigation, records show.
Kriete interviewed Colton Magers, Evers and Ritt-Mawdsley and investigated text messages from Evers indicating a strained relationship between Colton Magers and his parents, records state. LCSO provided a recording of Colton Magers’ initial 911 call after his crash, the report says.
Sheriff Magers was contacted for a statement by Kriete, but he declined, according to the report.
Kriete concluded the potential for the charges of obstructing a law enforcement officer and making a false or misleading statement to a public servant based on statements that Sheriff Magers gave to Christian saying he didn’t know where his son was when Christian called the night of the crash, according to records.
The report states that Colton Magers was at Sheriff Magers’ home when Christian called for Colton Magers’ location.
According to the report, Kriete also concluded the potential for a third-degree rendering criminal assistance charge, based on statements that Sheriff Magers believed Colton Magers drove under the influence of alcohol and didn’t report it while preventing his son from going to the hospital for his injuries, where his intoxication would be discovered.
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office submitted its findings to the Lincoln County Prosecutor for a criminal follow-up investigation. The prosecutor requested Washington State Patrol conduct that investigation, and Spangler thus received the case file March 15, according to the report.
Spangler reviewed written reports by Christian, Gants and Kriete and watched video recorded statements by Colton Magers, Evers and Ritt-Mawdsley. He also spoke to LCSO dispatcher Dave Husky March 29, who told him that he wasn’t directly involved with the incident but was friends with Evers and Lianna Freeman, the report says.
Husky told Spangler that Freeman contacted Gants to say Evers had told several people that Sheriff Magers refused to allow Colton Magers to go to the hospital because he was drunk, records state.
Spangler contacted Franklin County Deputy Prosecutor Albert Lin Apr. 1, who agreed to handle the case review, according to records.
Evers did a recorded interview with Spangler Apr. 12 and admitted she was afraid to tell Kriete that Colton Magers had indeed been drinking before his crash during the GCSO investigation. She said she believed alcohol played a role in the crash, according to records.
She also said Colton Magers admitted he was drinking and said she was told Devin Magers removed beer from the vehicle after the collision before anyone else arrived. She added that she didn’t think Colton Magers was capable of making his own decisions the night of the crash, records state.
Colton Magers then spoke to Spangler and said he had four broken ribs, a compression fracture of one of his lower vertebrae and a pinhole puncture in his left lung as a result of the crash. He then admitted he was afraid for his job security and Sheriff Magers’ security when he wasn’t honest to Kriete about the cause of the collision, according to records.
Colton Magers then admitted he had consumed at least eight 16-ounce beers before driving that night, records state. He said it was true that he was trying to get to his cell phone, but the primary cause of the crash was because he was drinking and speeding, records say.
He also told Spangler he was asked several times if he wanted to go to the hospital that night, but he kept saying “I don’t know, I don’t know,” according to records.
Spangler asked Colton Magers if his parents, including Sheriff Magers, prevented him from going to the hospital. Colton Magers claimed they did, saying they should’ve taken him, as he wasn’t coherent enough to know what his injuries were, according to records.
Ritt-Mawdsley told Spangler on April 13 that Sheriff Magers didn’t want Colton Magers to go to the hospital until his blood-alcohol level was down. She also said she heard Evers yelling at Sheriff Magers to take Colton Magers to the hospital, and Sheriff Magers disagreeing, according to records.
Gants then told Spangler that LCSO Chief Civil Deputy Denise Liebing had more information to share April 28, records state.
Liebing told Spangler that Sheriff Magers called her around 8 a.m. the morning after Colton Magers’ crash to inform her of the collision. Sheriff Magers told Liebing he hadn’t seen Colton at all since the crash, according to records.
However, a few days later, Sheriff Magers told Liebing he “f***ed up” and did know where Colton Magers was after the crash. Sheriff Magers never told Liebing about use of alcohol, records state.
Spangler reviewed Kriete’s case file, re-interviewed the same individuals and obtained more call and text records, according to records.
He found contradictory statements by Evers and Colton Magers regarding Magers’ alcohol consumption prior to driving. They both admitted they lied to Kriete when providing their original statements out of fear of Colton Magers getting in DUI trouble. Spangler then concluded that it was likely, but can’t be definitively proven, that Colton Magers was likely under the influence when he crashed, according to records.
Spangler also concluded that Sheriff Magers was likely at home with Colton Magers when he spoke to Christian and claimed he didn’t know where his son was or whether he sought medical treatment following the crash. Spangler submitted his case file for peer review and supervisory approval to the Franklin County Prosecutor for review, records show.
Sheriff Magers’ July 7 appearance in District Court will be presided over by Garfield County District Court Judge Thomas W. Cox. Lincoln County District Court Judge Dan B. Johnson disqualified himself from presiding over the case, according to records.
The appearance is scheduled for Wednesday, July 7 at 10 a.m.
Drew Lawson is a reporter and sports writer for Free Press Publishing, including the Cheney Free Press and Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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