McCormick details Massey arrest

RITZVILLE – Police Chief Dave McCormick shared some of his department’s actions leading to the Dec. 30 arrest of Brian Scott Massey during the Jan. 2 City Council meeting.

Massey, 35, of Ritzville, remains in the Franklin County Jail on $70,000 bail.

Massey has a lengthy criminal history in Adams County, court records show. In addition to three warrants for failing to appear in court on trespass charges, current charges include residential burglary with sexual motivation, attempted indecent liberties, and fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation.

“Through a fairly lengthy investigation, we were able to write a statement of probable cause for these charges,” McCormick told the council.

One probable-cause factor was Massey’s record of failing to appear for court dates.

According to police records, Massey had 17 failure-to-appear warrants issued by Adams County District Court-Ritzville between September 2021 and October 2023.

Massey pleaded guilty to three criminal trespass violations at an Oct. 4 hearing.

At that time, attorneys agreed to give him credit for serving 77 days of jail time since his arrest on July 20, 2023. The judge placed him on supervised probation for the next 24 months and said he must stay away from “all properties mentioned in all files.”

Because the Ritzville jail remains closed, criminal suspects can’t be incarcerated locally. So, as City Attorney John Kragt observed at the meeting, the city won’t be paying for Massey to spend time at the local jail. He’ll be housed elsewhere.

Regarding the need to establish probable cause, McCormick shared some of his department’s challenges. He noted that alleged criminal activity posted on social media sites rarely provides adequate support for a probable cause determination.

McCormick likened social media posts to games sometimes played in school. “One person says something to another person and by the time you get to the end of the line, the last person hears something that wasn’t even remotely what the first person said.”

But forensic interviews conducted in December provided sufficient evidence to support two felony charges — attempted indecent liberties and residential burglary with sexual motivation.

“This is a very good case,” McCormick said. “We’ll see where it goes from here. I think he’ll be in jail until it’s resolved, and hopefully that resolution will involve lengthy prison time. Many people in the community can rest a little easier now that this guy is in custody.”