Two San Juan Island men who forced their way into a Friday Harbor apartment in pursuit of prescription drugs and ended up in an altercation with the couple living there will each spend 15 months in prison for felony burglary.
On Nov. 19, Travis James Webster, 26, also known as Travis White, was sentenced to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty in mid-October in San Juan County Superior Court to one count of first-degree burglary, a Class B felony. He was ordered to pay $1,345 in fines and fees, which includes $495 in restitution to the couple who fought off the two would-be robbers.
Webster’s accomplice, Taiya Autumn Speed, 24, was also sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,345 in fines, fees and restitution. He pleaded guilty in superior court to one count of first-degree burglary in mid-October as well.
According to court documents, the two men barged their way into the Linder Street apartment of a man whom they both knew in mid-July, plotting to steal prescription medication that they believed to be in the home at the time. They both wore masks to disguise their identities.
An altercation ensued when the would-be target answered a knock on the door of his apartment, shortly before midnight, and tried to prevent the two masked men from entering the home. Speed and Webster reportedly muscled their way into the home, demanded that the man hand over the medication and pounced on him when he refused.
The couple’s two young daughters were asleep in the living room, in the vicinity of where the fight broke, at the time. The man’s wife came to his aid and became involved in the altercation as well. Webster and Speed reportedly fled the apartment after being unmasked during the struggle. The two were identified by name on the heels of the invasion and arrested by authorities the following day.
A Class B felony, first-degree burglary carries maximum penalties of 10 years in prison, a $20,000 fine, or both; however, the standard range of sentencing set by the state is 21-27 months.
— Scott Rasmussen
