PORT ANGELES — A wanted Port Angeles man believed to be armed and dangerous has been charged in absentia with multiple domestic violence offenses.
Andrew David Nilsson, also known as Andrew Stanger has been on the run since Oct. 3, when Port Angeles police served a search warrant at his house in the 200 block of Eighth Street — and didn’t find him.
John Troberg, deputy Clallam County prosecuting attorney, said he charged Nilsson with one count of harassment/threats to kill and one count each of second-degree assault/strangulation, unlawful imprisonment, harassment/threats to kill and fourth-degree assault, all of which are domestic violence-related.
Nilsson, 27, could face a maximum of 26 years to life in prison, depending on prior convictions against him, if he is convicted of all these charges, according to court documents.
One of 2 men sought
Nilsson has been one of two armed and dangerous fugitives from Port Angeles sought by law enforcement.
The other man, Mario Wayne Hackney, was captured Wednesday following a 10-hour standoff.
Although Nilsson still should be considered armed and dangerous, Port Angeles police believe he might now be in California.
“I don’t believe he is in Port Angeles or probably the state of Washington at this point,” said Sgt. Barb McFall, the lead investigator on the case for Port Angeles police.
In a Thursday interview, McFall said Nilsson’s car, a white 1990 Honda Prelude with Washington license plates AHK8429, appears to have been impounded in California, based on information gleaned from Nilsson’s mother and the Port Angeles car dealer to which Nilsson was making payments on the Honda.
McFall said she is in the process of determining where exactly Nilsson’s car has been impounded.
The offenses of which Nilsson is accused are extraditable, McFall said, meaning the Clallam County Prosecutor’s Office could have Nilsson shipped backed to Port Angeles if he is arrested anywhere else.
Nilsson is described as white, 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 190 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.
The charges against him stem from a series of incidents over Sept. 26-30, according to the motion of determination of probable cause filed in Clallam County Superior Court.
In the narrative McFall wrote for the probable-cause statement, Nilsson is described as a possibly mentally troubled individual who owns an AK-47 and at least one crossbow, neither of which was found at Nilsson’s Eighth Street home when police served a search warrant.
Police did find, however, a small homemade explosive device that was confiscated by the State Patrol’s bomb squad.
“Nilsson was described as ‘odd’ and ‘out there’ by every witness I interviewed,” McFall wrote in the probable-cause statement.
“Nilsson made statements to witnesses in the past that indicate he believes he will be ‘the catalyst of the apocalypse’ and that in [December 2012] the reptilian aliens will come down and harvest our organs.”
Death threats alleged
Court documents describe Nilsson allegedly assaulting a single victim at least twice over the four-day period and later threatening friends of the victim with death via numerous phone calls.
McFall said the victim’s friends thought Nilsson entirely capable of carrying out his threats.
“They’re happy to know he is no longer in the state and happy to know he has been charged,” McFall said.
Nilsson initially contacted Port Angeles police Sept. 29, complaining that he had been poisoned and that he was worried about the alleged domestic violence victim’s whereabouts, McFall wrote.
Port Angeles police have since spoken with him.
Police heard from Nilsson by phone the morning of Oct. 9 — but were unable to glean any information on where he might be, according to McFall’s probable-cause statement.
In a later interview, McFall said police only had secondhand reports about Nilsson’s alleged violence against the victim as of Sept. 29 and did not have enough evidence to arrest him.
According to court records McFall has compiled, Nilsson was arrested in 2004 in El Paso County, Colo., for investigation of multiple domestic violence-related offenses — including kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment — against a separate victim.
“Basically the same stuff,” McFall said.
The Colorado charges were dismissed. McFall said she does not know why, though it could be for a number of different reasons.
If anyone thinks they may have seen Nilsson, McFall advises them to get to a safe place and call 9-1-1.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
