By Natalie Johnson
A Winthrop man accused of using a knife to threaten two men who were harvesting roadkill is scheduled to go to trial in May on charges of first-degree robbery and second-degree assault, both felony charges, after pleading not guilty on March 15.
Jan Bagge, 54, was arrested on March 7, several hours after the reported incident. He has been held since then in the Okanogan County Jail.
At his arraignment hearing, he entered not guilty pleas to the two felony charges. His trial is currently scheduled to begin on May 4.
At a bail hearing on March 16, Superior Court Judge Henry Rawson agreed to a decreased bail amount of $125,000, from the earlier order of $250,000, provided Bagge wear a monitoring device, and that prosecutors review a mental health evaluation before his release.
As of Tuesday (March 23), Bagge was still in custody at the Okanogan County Jail.
According to the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office, deputies received a report of a robbery at 2:56 p.m. on March 7, off Bear Creek Road in Winthrop near Pearrygin Lake State Park.
One of the two victims identified by the sheriff’s office, Ryan Bell, reported that he was working on a project about harvesting roadkill, which is legal in Washington, and was taking pictures of another area resident, Kenneth Bevis, harvesting meat from a roadkill deer.
Bagge allegedly approached the men and threatened them with a knife.
According to Okanogan County court records, Bagge is currently on probation due to a January 2020 conviction on one count each of fourth-degree assault and harassment, gross misdemeanor offenses, dating to October 2019.
He was sentenced two days in jail and 60 months unsupervised probation in that case.
