Trial date set on 11 charges, including stalking

PORT ANGELES — A 19-year-old Port Angeles man pleaded not guilty to 11 charges, including stalking a former girlfriend whose house he allegedly broke into before getting on her computer to unblock himself from contacting her.

At his arraignment Friday, Mason James Coppage had his Clallam County Superior Court trial set for Aug. 12 and a status hearing for July 11.

Coppage is charged with two counts of stalking, one after the woman filed a protection order against him; first-degree computer trespass; four counts of violating civil anti-harassment orders; and four counts of residential burglary.

The offenses allegedly occurred May 2, May 5, May 22, May 23, May 25 and May 27.

He was arrested on the woman’s back patio on East Fifth Avenue in Port Angeles shortly after midnight May 27 after the woman reported seeing him, on a video camera while she was at another location, trying to break into her house while her grandfather and daughter were in the house, according to the probable cause statement written by Sheriff’s Deputy Marc Titterness.

Coppage was sitting on a sofa on the back porch near the bathroom window when police arrived, Titterness said in the statement.

Following his arrest without incident, Coppage said he had seen the woman three other times that week at her home and knew he was under court order to not contact her, according to the statement.

“Mason stated he did not try to enter the home this time; he was just looking through the window,” Titterness said.

“Mason has come over to [the woman’s] house in the past and looked through the window.”

When Titterness interviewed the woman, “she had tears on her face,” according to the statement.

“The woman stated Mason was at her home Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday nights this week.

“[The woman] gave Sgt. [Brian] Knutson a letter from Mason stating he knows he is violating the court order.”

She reported a burglary at her house May 5, two days after blocking him and after breaking up with him, according to her May 6 petition for the protection order.

She said she had returned home to find her back door broken.

“Looking around to see if anything was missing, I find my laptop sitting open on my bed. I turned it on and found his page with a friend request sent to him.”

Following Coppage’s arrest, he told Titterness he had sent the friend request from the woman’s computer, according to the probable cause statement.

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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.