Sauls faces charges after assault

A Eureka man with a criminal history faces multiple charges in Lincoln County District Court for his role in assaulting a man in that community last year.

Prosecutors have brought felony assault with a weapon and failure to register as a violent offender charges against Jacob Sauls, 23. He pleaded not guilty to both charges during his arraignment in Lincoln County District Court on Dec. 28.

Investigators focused on Sauls after responding to a disturbance in Eureka just after midnight on March 30. Officer Grigori Neils of the Eureka Police Department found a badly beaten man in a residential complex.

Though the victim was at first hesitant to finger the people behind the attack, Neils wrote that he eventually named Sauls and a woman, Kelsey Mocko. According to Neils’ affidavit, the victim initially said it was just him and Mocko playing drinking games, but later included Sauls.

Neils believed that the victim was afraid of further harm if he gave Sauls’ name to authorities.

The victim eventually told Neils that he and Sauls were never on good terms. Sauls demeaned him because he was a registered sex offender, the victim said.

He told Neils that he believed Sauls worked him over with brass knuckles.

In the affidavit, Neils wrote that the victim suffered from a cut lip, badly swollen eye, a scrape on the back and cuts to his shoulder, nose and forehead. Blood was left splattered across his apartment, staining the carpet, furniture and wall of the victim’s apartment, Neils wrote.

During the investigation, Mocko called the victim several times, urging him to keep quiet about the incident. One of the conversations was recorded on Neils’ body camera, according to court documents.

Neils tried to speak with Mocko, but she refused to talk with him.

Mocko eventually received a suspended, six-month sentence after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a peace officer. She struck a plea deal after officials initially charged her with felony tampering with a witness.

Authorities believe Sauls fled the state after the assault. A second affidavit, written by Ben Hall, a detective with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, noted that authorities unsuccessfully attempted to track Sauls down on April 1 by visiting his mother’s home in the Eureka area.

Sauls turned up in Washington state in September. He came into contact with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office after getting arrested for allegedly stealing a beer there, Hall wrote. Sauls, knowing he was wanted for arrest in Montana, provided the deputies with a false name, court documents said.

Because he did not update authorities in Lincoln County — where he was on probation for a 2015 robbery conviction — with a new address, authorities brought the failure to register as a violent offender charge against him.

An omnibus hearing is scheduled for Feb. 22 with a pretrial conference to follow on March 29. Were the case to go to trial, it would begin May 4.

The assault with a weapon charge carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in state prison and a $50,000 fine. Failure to register as a violent offender is punishable with up to five years behind bars and a $10,000 fine.