Transient gets 3 years for Bucoda assault

A Thurston County transient was sentenced to three years in prison Monday for an assault in Bucoda that left the victim with multiple facial injuries.

Travis J. Ritzenthaler, 28, appeared in Thurston County Superior Court to plead guilty to one count of second-degree assault. An initial charge of one count of first-degree robbery was dropped as part of the plea agreement. The sentence includes 18 months of probation.

Ritzenthaler was arrested three days after the Aug. 1 assault that occurred near Joe’s Place on Main Street.

According to court documents, the victim had gone to a friend’s house to buy marijuana. Ritzenthaler told the man to come inside the shed because he had something to show him.

After entering the shed, Ritzenthaler allegedly wielded a baseball bat and told the man to empty his pockets of a wallet and two marijuana pipes, according to court documents.

Ritzenthaler also accused the man of stealing a weed eater, then allegedly hit him eight to 10 times, mostly in the face. The assault left the man with a broken nose, skull and cheek fractures and other injuries, according to court documents.

At Monday’s hearing, Judge Sam Meyer said the maximum sentence for this type of crime is 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. As part of the plea agreement, the court agreed to drop a sentencing enhancement for use of a deadly weapon.

The conviction counts as a strike offense — Ritzenthaler’s first — under the state’s persistent offender law. His criminal history includes residential burglary charges as well as juvenile theft and assault charges, according to court documents.

This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 2:47 PM with the headline "Transient gets 3 years for Bucoda assault."