Suspect in ‘brutal assault’ in Thurston County arrested after monthslong search
Thurston County deputies arrested a 36-year-old man accused of robbery and assault after a two-month search.
Steven Robert Goble is being held in the county jail in lieu of $200,000 bail. He attended his preliminary hearing in Thurston County Superior Court Wednesday afternoon.
Investigators had searched for Goble since November, when he and a few others allegedly took part in an assault and robbery at a property on Steamboat Island Road Northwest in Thurston County. Sheriff Derek Sanders announced Goble’s arrest in a Tuesday night Facebook post. He called the November incident a “brutal assault” that left the victim without part of his ear.
The Thurston County Narcotics Task Force tracked Goble to a compound in the Yelm area and arrested him there Tuesday night, Sanders said. The Washington State Department of Corrections, The U.S. Marshals Service and Thurston County K9 dog Igo assisted with the arrest, he added.
Deputies booked Goble into the county jail on suspicion of first-degree robbery and first-degree assault, per the jail log. He was also booked on warrants for possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of a controlled substance.
What happened in court Wednesday?
Judge Mary Allyson Zipp found probable cause for first-degree robbery and first-degree assault Wednesday and set the bail amount. In doing so, she said there was a substantial danger he may commit a violent crime, intimidate witnesses and fail to appear to in court when required.
Zipp described the allegations and called them “extremely serious.”
“The allegations in this case are that you participated in luring the alleged victim to a location and then participated in savagely beating him in retribution for some past information that he is alleged to have provided to law enforcement,” Zipp said.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Jessica Shen asked the court to set bail at $500,000.
“Given the excessive violence that was inflicted on the victim in this case, there is not a least restrictive alternative to both the victim’s safety and community safety, other than high bail,” Shen said.
The victim attended the hearing virtually. He asked Zipp to hold Goble without bail.
“I almost died and he didn’t care,” the victim said. “No one cared.”
Defense attorney Diana Wildland acknowledged the serious allegations and asked Zipp to set bail at $5,000.
“Given his extreme limited means, in this case we believe that $5,000 bond is representative of a substantial sum for my client, such that he would be secured in returning to court and not having any new allegations of crimes.”
Goble is life-long Thurston County resident who has family in the area, Wildland said, so she did not believe he would be a flight risk.
Court records show Goble’s adult criminal history dates back to 2005, including a conviction for first-degree robbery and first-degree assault in a 2006 Thurston County case.
His last conviction was for two counts of possessing a stolen vehicle, theft of a motor vehicle, first-degree criminal trespass and third-degree possessing stolen property in a 2022 Thurston County case.
Zipp also addressed a 2025 case in which Goble is accused of possessing a stolen vehicle and a controlled substance. She set bail at $2,500 in that case. He allegedly missed a court hearing three times, leading to the issuance of the warrant for his arrest.
If prosecutors charge him in connection to the November assault and robbery, he is due back in court on Jan. 13 for his arraignment hearing.
Another suspect had already been arrested
Goble is not the first person to be arrested in connection to the November incident.
Deputies arrested Jack Anthony Lee Scott Bessett Gorton, 32, on Nov. 9 and he’s currently being held without bail in the county jail. Prosecutors have charged him with first-degree robbery and first-degree assault in the case.
Court records indicate the victim believed he was being targeted for testifying against Bessett Gorton in a 2017 Thurston County case.
Prosecutors allege Bessett Gorton and a few others in masks robbed someone at gunpoint at a Tumwater residence in 2017.
The victim in the November case reportedly identified Bessett Gordon and others as the culprits of the 2017 incident to investigators, per court records.
Bessett Gorton ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary and second-degree assault in that case and the court sentenced him to 9 years and 8 months in prison to be served concurrently with a sentence for a 2018 robbery conviction, according to court records.
Bessett Gorton was released from prison on Sept. 23, 2025, after completing his sentence, said Chris Wright, Communications Director for the Washington State Department of Corrections.
The November robbery and assault investigation
A probable cause statement describes an investigation from the perspective of law enforcement. Prosecutors file this statement with the court so that judges can determine probable cause and set conditions of release.
The probable cause statement in Goble’s case gives this account of what happened:
Deputies found the victim screaming and writhing in pain on a resident’s porch in the early morning hours of Nov. 8, 2025. He reportedly fled the scene of the assault and sought help from a neighboring resident who called 911.
The victim told deputies he went to a home to purchase drugs with a friend. Once there, he encountered Bessett Gorton, who he testified against in the 2017 Thurston County case in exchange for immunity. Goble and two other people allegedly accompanied Bessett Gorton.
The group allegedly hit the victim in the head multiple times with a padlock and brass knuckles. He later escaped during a break in the assault and hid in the woods.
He suffered a broken nose and deep contusions to his head. Part of his ear was also missing. He said the group took several items of his, including $300, a drill and a cell phone.
He allegedly said he believed his friend lured him to the home so Besset Gordon could get revenge. He told the deputy he feared for his life.
A person tipped off investigators to Besset Gordon’s location at a Tenino address, allowing them to arrest him on Nov. 9, 2025.
Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Tara Tshelana said Goble and Besset Gordon are the only people the office is prosecuting in connection to the November incident.
This story was originally published January 8, 2026 at 1:31 PM.
