Bellingham police arrested a man they say is a man on Friday shot the man who died during a suspected drug robbery last month.
As of Saturday, Nov. 5, Wayne Daniel Sewell, 24, remained in the Whatcom County Jail on $750,000 bail on charges of 1st degree robbery, 1st degree assault and three counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. , according to Whatcom County Jail booking records.
According to an email from Bellingham Police Lt. Claudia Murphy, Sewell was found near a vehicle in the Ferndale Casino parking lot on Friday, Nov. 4. A .380-caliber handgun with five rounds in the magazine was found and confiscated, Murphy said. As a convicted felon, Sewell is prohibited from possessing firearms.
Police say Sewell was in the car with Darian Polly when he allegedly conspired with Isaiah Meishak to rob Matthew Roberts on Oct. 16, according to Murphy.
According to previous reports in The Bellingham Herald, Paul allegedly knew Roberts was coming from Oregon and had “a large amount of drugs.”
“As a direct result of this pre-planned robbery, during which Pauley conspired to steal Roberts’ drugs at gunpoint, Mayshack suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest and Roberts suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the upper torso and required life-saving medical treatment,” Murphy said. .
Police say Pauley drove Sewell and an unidentified woman along with Roberts to meet Mayshak in the Roosevelt area of ​​Bellingham.
According to witnesses interviewed by detectives, Roberts shot Meishak in the chest and then Sewell shot Roberts in the back from the back seat of the Range Rover.
After the shooting, Roberts called 911 and Pauley allegedly drove off without helping either man, Murphy said.
Investigators reportedly found three bags of drugs near Roberts, two of which tested positive for suspected cocaine and weighed 47.7 grams and 48.8 grams each. A third package contained 1,000 blue pills that tested positive for suspected fentanyl. A gun was reportedly found directly under Roberts.
Pauley, 26, of Ferndale, was found waist-deep in a swamp of farmer’s manure on Monday, Oct. 31, and arrested on charges of robbery and drug possession. He remains in the Whatcom County Jail on $500,000 bond.
Meishak, 31, of Bellingham, died in hospital on October 16 after disembarking by private car.
After being treated for injuries sustained during the shooting, Roberts, 28, of Eugene, Oregon, was arrested on Oct. 22 and is being held on $1 million bail. in the Whatcom County Jail on a charge of second-degree murder.
