Friday Harbor man sentenced to almost three years for assault, harassment

Paul Noah Espinoza, 30, of Friday Harbor, pleaded guilty to seven counts of assault and harassment of police officers, in San Juan Superior Court on Dec. 10.

He was also found guilty of one felony count of harassment to kill on Dec. 5.

Espinoza will serve two years and nine months for the aforementioned crimes.

Harassment to kill charge

Espinoza received the first felony charge of harassment to kill on March 7. According to San Juan County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Teresa Barnett, Espinoza threatened to kill the sister of his former girlfriend and her fiance.

Assaults on officers

On March 9, Espinoza was arrested for that charge and, when in custody, allegedly broke out of an interview room by “ripping the door off,” according to Barnett. This led to his felony charge of escape.

Espinoza was also charged with the felony of assaulting a law enforcement officer in the third degree for each of the following three alleged offenses.

Once out of the holding area, Espinoza allegedly hit Deputy Eric Gardner, tackled and hit Deputy Andy Urbach and hit “and/or” body slammed former Undersheriff Brent Johnson, court documents state. Barnett added that she later amended the final assault charge from the third degree to the second degree because Johnson suffered two broken ribs.

Espinoza was also charged with the felony of harassment of a criminal justice participant when he allegedly threatened to kill Deputy Scott Brennan.

In August, while in his holding cell, he had another altercation with officers, which added two final counts of assault.

By the end of 2018, Espinoza had racked up a total of seven counts from altercations with police officers.

According to court documents, Espinoza’s criminal history includes five separate sentences for assault in the fourth degree.

Hayley Day contributed to this story.