QUILCENE — A 26-year-old man remained in the Jefferson County Jail on Wednesday with a bond set at more than $250,000 for investigation of numerous allegations related to a vehicle theft, kidnapping and a subsequent manhunt that occurred late Tuesday morning.
Trenton L. Seykora, who is unhoused, made his first court appearance Wednesday morning in Jefferson County Superior Court. He is being held for investigation of first-degree kidnapping, first-degree assault of a police officer, eluding a police vehicle, possession of stolen motor vehicle, first-degree possession of stolen property, two counts of third-degree theft, second-degree malicious mischief, third-degree malicious mischief, DUI-drugs, reckless driving and driving with a suspended license.
He is being held on $251,370 bond. The next court date had not been set as of Wednesday.
Additional charges may be added later, according to a press release from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The passenger, Joseph G. Gaikowksi, 38, of Port Townsend was arrested and remained Wednesday in the Jefferson County Jail for investigation of third-degree driving while license suspended and possession of a stolen motor vehicle. Bond has been set at $10,000.
His arraignment is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Feb. 2 before Superior Court Judge Keith C. Harper.
Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Brett Anglin said Wednesday deputies have received several calls regarding associated crimes, including at a tow yard in Kitsap County and another location in East Jefferson County.
“We have obtained a search warrant for the vehicle he was driving and now we are trying to put the pieces together to determine if this is connected to other crimes in our community,” he said.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office described events leading to the arrests on Tuesday as follows:
A sheriff’s deputy was attempting to locate a stolen pickup truck towing a dump trailer in the Quilcene area at about 11 a.m. Tuesday.
Another deputy encountered the vehicle near U.S. Highway 101 and Lords Lake Loop Road, but the driver refused to stop.
Deputies said they had tried to apprehend this person for weeks following a series of crimes in which he was a suspect.
The driver continued north on U.S. Highway 101 at high speed until the deputy called off the pursuit due to current state law and, as a result, lost sight of the vehicle.
The deputy then caught up with it again on a state Department of Natural Resources dirt road that led to a dead end.
He pursued it to the end of the road where the driver — later found to be Seykora, according to deputies — pulled a U-turn and struck the deputy’s vehicle.
The deputy followed the driver back down the dirt road while alerting other deputies.
The driver rammed another deputy and pushed his vehicle down the dirt road.
Deputies now believed the driver likely was driving under intoxication, which allowed them to begin a legal pursuit.
The vehicle ran over a spike strip near Lake Leland but continued north on U.S. Highway 101 until it ran over another spike strip at Fuller Road.
It then turned onto Boulton Road and stopped. Seykora got out of the vehicle and ran into a wooded area, said deputies, who pursued him on foot but lost sight of him near the wood line.
A passenger in the vehicle — Gaikowksi, deputies said — told deputies that Seykora was armed with a handgun, had threatened him with it, and had refused to let him out of the vehicle.
After almost an hour of searching thick brush, deputies found Seykora with the sheriff’s office’s drone.
Anglin said one deputy aggravated an injury during the pursuit and capture and now is on light duty.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at brian.gawley@soundpublishing.com.