Man accused of damaging vehicles and threatening lives

A Libby man is being held on $1.5 million bail after allegedly damaging a pack of cars, tampering with the evidence from damaging those vehicles and repeatedly threatening a relative’s life if he told law enforcement about his criminal activity.

Kenneth Dean Jaynes, 54, has been charged with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, criminal endangerment, tampering with a witness or information, theft and five counts of criminal mischief, adding up to $1 million in bail. In a separate case, he is charged with tampering with a witness or informant and six charges of violating privacy in communications past his third offense, adding another $500,000 to his bail.

If convicted, Jaynes faces a maximum 120 years imprisonment and a possible $461,000 in fines.

The criminal mischief charges span a six-month period from July to December 2016. The charges accuse Jaynes of damaging four different vehicles, including a friend’s slashing tires, pouring acid into his girlfriend’s gas tax and oil engine reservoir, ramming a man’s car with a relative’s pickup and later hacking at the relative’s pickup with an axe, according to court documents.

Over the course of the alleged incidents, Jaynes’ relative told law enforcement officials he believed Jaynes had stolen his pickup to ram another man’s vehicle, and later threatened the relative’s life if he told police about the incident. The relative reported that he had purchased muriatic acid at the request of Jaynes, and reported later saw Jaynes pour the acid into the gas tank and oil reservoir of Jaynes’ girlfriend’s vehicle. A sheriff’s deputy later spoke with a mechanic that worked on the woman’s vehicle, who said he had to stop the work and tow the vehicle away after realizing the toxicity of the substance inside.

Court documents state that Jaynes in July took his relative’s pickup and rammed it into a man’s Ford Mustang, mashing it against a garage wall. Jaynes in December found out an investigation was pending on the incident, so he allegedly removed the brush guard from the front end of his relative’s vehicle to remove evidence, charges state.

Two days later, a man living in Jaynes’ home told police that Jaynes had shot a television inside his house. According to court documents, Jaynes was angry with two different men for going to police about the Mustang incident. Jaynes then allegedly threatened the lives of his relative and the two men if they stayed in contact with law enforcement. Fearing for his life and others, the relative told law enforcement he had taken Jaynes’ firearms after the TV incident.

On Dec. 27, Jaynes allegedly stole the relative’s pickup in order to barter for his guns back. Deputies later found the pickup after a resident called 911 to report someone vandalizing a vehicle nearby, where they found the relative’s pickup had been hit several times with a double-bladed axe, according to court documents.

Things escalated on the night of Jan. 4 and early hours of Jan. 5, when Jaynes allegedly left six voicemails on his relative’s cell phone to say he had already “paid for his and his family’s demise.” Jaynes told the relative that he knew the relative was speaking with law enforcement, and repeatedly told him “good luck.”

“Watch out for the little red dot on your head. OK. Because I see you and so does somebody else and the family. Good luck,” was the final voicemail from Jaynes, according to court documents.

Jaynes is scheduled to appear in district court on Jan. 18.