The Charles Feld Case Reports


The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office Reports On Incident 10-04123, April 2, 2010 -  55 page PDF, 252kb 

This file contains the records of the Skagit County Sheriff Office's response and investigation into the events of April 2, 2010. Be warned that some records contain language generally considered offensive.

An excerpt, Chief Will Reichardt's report, follows.

A call to 911, reporting an assault, led to an overwhelming and unprecedented response by many Sheriff officers, a Skagit County High Risk Team, SWAT team, negotiator, an ATF bomb-sniffing K-9 team, Skagit County Fire Marshals, plus the Guemes Island Fire Department. In the end, Charles Feld surrendered and was subsequently charged with attempted murder, arson and weapons violations. He is currently in custody and awaiting trial.

Skagit County's Incident Statements posted in April on LineTime.org

Assault, Fires, and Manhunt Shatter Island Serenity, The Guemes Tide, May 2010


Feld Found Guilty, Sentenced to 80-112 Years
April 20, 2012, the jury returned guilty verdicts on two counts of attempted premeditated murder of Stephen Callero, 48, and Tim Hanby, 60; four counts of premeditated assault on Callero, Hanby, and sheriff’s deputies Steven Gonzales and Jess Brannon; one count of premeditated arson at Callero’s residence; and one count of felony harassment with threats to kill sheriff’s deputies.

The jury returned firearm enhancement charges on four of the counts, which will add up to 10 years to the sentencing range for each count. Sentences for the attempted murder charges and assault charges must run consecutively; the minimum sentence for each attempted murder charge is 20 years without opportunity for early release. Feld’s prior felony conviction will add additional time. Offcial estimates of his sentence range from 80 to 112 years. [From The Guemes Tide, May 2012]


Supplemental Narrative:
Supplemental Narratives Seq Name Date  Narrative
1 SUTTLES L 12:14:41 04/03/10 ˆCHIEF W REICHARDT, Transcribed April 3, 2010

On 04/02/10 at approximately 2030 hours, I received a phone call from CHIEF DEPUTY TOM MOLITOR. He advised that he was responding to a reported shooting incident on Guemes Island and we discussed some of the facts that we knew at that time and discussed in brief detail what the investigation would entail. It was also determined at that time that a detective would be called out to apply for a search warrant for the residence of the suspect.

At approximately 0715 hours, I met briefly with DETECTIVE MEYER and DEPUTY JASON MOSES and was given a more thorough update of the case and of the witness statements. The decision was then made to interview FELD in the Sheriff’s Office video room.

At approximately 0737 hours, myself and DETECTIVE MEYER contacted CHARLES FELD in the interview room. I explained to FELD that I would like to talk to him on video as to his version of events and he agreed to do that. I went through the Constitutional rights form as well as the consent to have the interview taped form with FELD and he signed and initialed in the appropriate places.

We first allowed FELD to talk to us about the incident leading up to this altercation. FELD explained that STEVE CALLERO had rented a rototiller and done some work for him and as a result expected him to help pay for the rent of the tiller. FELD said that this happened about a week ago and over the last week or so they have been exchanging insults and CALLERO has been demanding payment. FELD said that he does not feel as though he owes any money and he said that he knew CALLERO was going to confront him at some point about it. FELD said that when he gets in situations like this he is determined to not be bullied or pushed around and so he prepared for CALLERO to confront him by preparing a gasoline, dishwashing soap, ammonia, and bleach mixture. He said he made some of this mixture into some gas bombs like Molotov cocktails and he also had a bucket of this mixture.

FELD told us that he had been anticipating CALLERO confronting him for the past three days or so and in fact he said he had a dream and a premonition of what would happen when CALLERO showed up and he dumped the gas on him. FELD said that one thing he did not count on is CALLERO showing up with three other men and he felt threatened by that. Initially, FELD said that he had thrown the gas mixture on CALLERO and another guy that he believes is named MIKE who he described as someone in their 50s with a white beard. He said that he could tell that he had blinded them and that they were running for their truck to retreat. He said that he was mad and he followed them out to the truck. He said that as he confronted CALLERO as he was inside the truck and preparing to leave that CALLERO opened the door and the doorjamb struck him in the forehead. FELD said that CALLERO was armed with a stick so he took the stick away from him. As the truck was leaving, he said he broke out the window of the pickup truck. FELD said that the other two men in the truck that had come into his driveway he did not believe ever exited the vehicle and they left with CALLERO and the person he thought was MIKE.

FELD said that he then went back into his residence and then decided to drive down to the beach and just calm down. We asked FELD if he had a firearm or had fired a firearm during this altercation and he denied that.

We also questioned FELD about if he had gone to CALLERO’S residence and lit a fire and he said that he has never been to CALLERO’S residence and he did not do that.
Later in the interview, I suggested to FELD that it might be better if he told the complete truth rather than just the story he was giving. I told FELD that by telling only half the story he was leaving things open for his story to not be completely believed because we knew facts that were not being completely covered in his statement. FELD then advised that he would tell the truth and he admitted to going to CALLERO’S residence and burning the trailer and truck. FELD said that he had thrown a brick through a window and gotten a can of gasoline that he found at the residence and that is what he used to start the fire. FELD said that he did this because he wanted to make absolutely sure that CALLERO got the point that it was not appropriate to threaten and bully people and that he never wanted him to forget that lesson.

I also questioned FELD about the possibility that a firearm was involved and FELD then advised that he did have a .38 caliber semiautomatic pistol and he felt that he did fire at least three rounds. He said that two of them were in the ground and one was in the air and that he did not shoot at anybody but they were merely warning shots and an effort to make sure that CALLERO knew he was serious about wanting them to leave his property.

At approximately 0840 hours, the interview was terminated and FELD was booked into the Skagit County Jail for Attempted Homicide, Arson, and Felon in Possession of a Firearm.

It should also be added that FELD did have a small fresh cut on his forehead consistent with being hit with the doorjamb of a vehicle. I asked FELD if he felt that this bump on his head was affecting his memory. He said that his neck hurt and he had a headache but he was given water and Ibuprofen at his request and he said that he felt he did have a good recollection of the incident.

At approximately 0930 hours, I completed a press release for the media on this event as we had been receiving phone calls about it. I also spoke with DEPUTY FIRE MARSHAL FRED WEFER on the phone who advised me that he was on Guemes at the scene and that he was given an update on what we had learned from FELD as to how the fire began. WEFER said that he had preliminarily looked for the brick and also a gas can that may be involved but had been unable to locate that at this time.

Copies of the FELD interview should be in the case file.

No further action taken at this time.

04/03/10, 1040 hrs., CHIEF WILL REICHARDT.
lls APPROVED REICHARDT Thu Apr 08 08:14:08 PDT 2010