SEQUIM — The third and final person accused in the burglary of Sequim’s Coastal Farm and Ranch last June has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Micah Aaron Parker, 33, was sentenced Wednesday for stealing multiple shotguns and merchandise.
He initially agreed to a plea deal on Dec. 14, but his sentencing was delayed in Clallam County Superior Court so his mother could attend the court date.
He pleaded guilty to felony counts of first-degree burglary, first-degree theft, two counts of theft of a firearm and two counts of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. His first two counts of burglary and theft included extra time served for being armed during the incident, according to court documents.
Parker is the third person to agree to a plea deal in connection with the June 24 burglary as he, Marcus Lavon Hale, 42, and Christopher Paul Robbins, 53, were arrested at different junctures for investigation of breaking into the store and stealing 13 shotguns worth about $9,050, along with other merchandise worth about $14,040, according to court documents.
Sequim Police Department detectives said the three people were recorded on surveillance video at 5:30 a.m. June 24 with Robbins breaking through the store’s front windows and letting Hale and Parker in through an emergency door.
Only some of the stolen shotguns were recovered on June 29 in a Tacoma hotel during Parker’s arrest, according to Sequim Police.
For the Sequim burglary, Hale agreed to a deal of 10 years in prison on Nov. 7, 2022, and Robbins agreed to six years in prison at his Nov. 9 sentencing.
Parker’s attorney Will Payne requested a 15-year minimum sentence, and Superior Court Judge Lauren Erickson agreed with the plea deal on Wednesday.
A maximum sentence was more than 20 years due to Parker’s previous convictions, including third-degree assault and taking a motor vehicle without permission in 2018, according to court documents.
At a December hearing, Clallam County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Roberson said a case against Parker in Thurston County will be dismissed as part of this plea deal.
Erickson also issued a recommendation that Parker not be housed with Robbins or Hale, coinciding with Robbins’ request he be jailed separately from his co-defendants as part of his agreement, too.
During sentencing, Parker was ruled indigent, and upon release, he must go into 18 months of community custody and start paying $40 a month toward $500 in restitution starting 90 days after his release.
Initially, Parker said he did not want to accept a plea deal at a Dec. 9 hearing but rescinded that after Payne said the plea deal would be withdrawn if he didn’t accept.
In his statement, according to court documents, he said, “on about the 24th day of June 2022 in Clallam County with intent to commit a crime against property, I broke into the Coastal Farm and Ranch Store and while in the building or in immediate flight there from, was armed with a deadly weapon. And furthermore, I removed two firearms from the store, and finally having previously been convicted of a serious offense and unable to possess firearms, did therefore, possess the firearms I took from Coastal.”
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.