Three men suspected of armed burglary in Grand Mound appear in court

Three men arrested in connection with an armed burglary Wednesday night in Grand Mound appeared in court Thursday.

The men have been identified as Michael Dement, 35, of Rochester; Matthew Frasier, 30, of Yelm; and Eldon Mackintosh, 37, with no known address. All appeared before Thurston County Superior Court Judge John Skinder.

Judge Skinder set bail at $250,000 for Dement and $500,000 for Mackintosh. He ordered Frasier be held in custody until further order, court documents show.

Skinder found probable cause to charge all three men with first-degree burglary and second-degree assault, and found probable cause to charge Frasier and Mackintosh with multiple counts of second-degree assault and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

According to the prosecutor’s statement of probable cause, Dement acted as the getaway driver while Frasier and Mackintosh were the two who entered the house.

Officers were notified by dispatch that two armed men were breaking into a home on the 6300 block of 198th Trail Southwest in Grand Mound at around 3 p.m., the statement reads.

When they arrived at the home, witnesses told officers they had seen their neighbors fleeing the house, screaming for help, and that people with guns were chasing them, the statement says.

A woman who had been inside told police she saw a man wearing a mask walking around the front side of her house and then another man in a black face mask in the backyard, the statement says. The man in the back then pointed a gun at her and told her to get down, the statement says.

The women said she alerted her son, who was at home with her, that two men with guns were outside. As she was saying it, the two men broke into her home, pointed guns at her and her son and yelled “Get down!” the statement says.

The mother and son ran to a nearby bedroom, pushed out an air conditioning unit from the window and climbed out of the house, the statement says. As they did, they heard a single gunshot ring out from inside their home.

The two described the burglars as tall and thin, one wearing a black sweatshirt and the other wearing a gray sweatshirt, the statement says.

According to the statement, witnesses told an officer they saw two men running away from the home, one with a gun who a witness chased after. When the witness got close, the armed man spun around and pointed his pistol at the witness’s chest, before tripping backward on a curb, the statement says.

In the statement, the armed man is described as “slim, 6-foot to 6-foot-3 wearing blue jeans and a gray sweatshirt.”

The two men then got into a car that a neighbor had seen in the area, parked outside of a house she suspected had drug activity going on in recent days, the statement reads.

A neighbor was driving home when he saw the two men being chased toward the Talking Cedar Brewery, the statement said. The man drove his car into the brewery’s parking lot, where a gold Infiniti sedan with three men in it passed him, the statement continues. The man said he saw the passenger in the front seat of the sedan remove a black face mask he was wearing before the car left.

After an attempt to locate the sedan was sent out to officers, a Washington State Patrol officer pulled over a car matching its description. Dement was driving the car, which is registered to him, Eldon Mackintosh was in the front passenger seat and Matthew Frasier was riding in the rear, the statement says.

Witnesses were transported to the stop, according to the statement, and they identified Frasier as the man in the gray sweatshirt and Mackintosh as the man in the black sweatshirt from the burglary.

Law enforcement canvassed the area of the burglary and discovered a silver Subaru with an empty gun holster and several speed loaders for a revolver visible inside parked several hundred yards from the victims’ home.

A neighbor said they had seen the vehicle park there and two men wearing gray sweatshirts get out of it earlier that day, the statement said. The neighbor told officers they had seen the two men around the neighborhood and near the victims’ house throughout the day, the statement reads.

Dement and Mackintosh will appear in court for arraignment on Sept. 1 and Frasier will have a preliminary appearance in court on Monday, Aug. 24

This story was originally published August 22, 2020 at 5:45 AM.