Four men jailed in alleged torture, kidnapping of Port Townsend man

Posted 3/5/21

Four Port Townsend men have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping, assaulting, drugging, robbing and torturing an acquaintance they thought had stolen things from a friend's home.

Zachary James …

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Four men jailed in alleged torture, kidnapping of Port Townsend man

Zachary James Barbee
Zachary James Barbee
Posted

Four Port Townsend men have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping, assaulting, drugging, robbing and torturing an acquaintance they thought had stolen things from a friend's home.

Zachary James Barbee, Giuseppe D. Glanz, and Robert John Cuevas were taken into custody Thursday night on felony counts of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree assault.

The fourth man allegedly involved in the assault, Isiah William Peoples-Morse, was arrested Friday afternoon, also for first-degree kidnapping and first-degree assault.

Barbee, 44, Glanz, 20, and Cuevas, 19, made their first appearance in Jefferson County Superior Court Friday.

Authorities allege the four men beat up an acquaintance at a residence in the mobile park at 545 Hendricks Street in Port Townsend after the victim returned to the residence following a visit there earlier in the day.

According to court documents, the assault occurred Nov. 20, 2020. A passerby found the victim lying in the road on Anderson Lake Road, east of Highway 20, at about 5 p.m. that day and called 911.

The victim told police he had been kidnapped, robbed, beat up, drugged and left there by his assailants.

"He told the deputies that he wasn't going to say anything because he would be killed," according to an incident report from the Port Townsend Police Department.

The victim, who is currently in Jefferson County Jail on a shoplifting charge, told jail staff on Sunday that he wanted to talk to authorities about the November assault.

The victim recalled visiting the home in the trailer park on Nov. 10 in the morning, but when he returned about midday he was confronted and assaulted by Glanz, Barbee, Cuevas, and Peoples-Morse.

He said the others accused him of stealing from them, and they attacked him and beat him for hours.

At one point, the victim made it to the front door and tried to escape, but was stopped and beaten again.

The man said his assailants took turns punching him in the face and ribs, and that he was also hit with clubs.

The victim said Barbee had attacked him first, then the others joined in. He started screaming, hoping the neighbors would hear.

The victim also said he thought they were going to kill him, and at one point, three of the men — Glanz, Barbee, and Peoples-Morse — talked about whether or not to kill him.

The victim said the attackers had an assault rifle and pointed it at him, and at one point, used a BB gun/airsoft pistol and began shooting him.

He said he was hit 15 to 20 times, and police found marks on his stomach and back consistent with the size of BB pellets.

The victim said at one point, Barbee pointed the gun close to his face and shot him in the right eye with the BB gun as Glanz and Peoples-Morse held him down.

The victim suffered vision loss in his right eye, according to court documents, and was later treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for the injury, which caused a 75 percent loss in vision.

During the assault, the victim said his attackers cut off his long hair, which was waist length, and shoved the hair into his mouth.

He said he was also burned with cigarettes, and the attackers put Suboxone strips into his mouth to drug him.

The victim told police he was stripped of his clothes and was forced to put on different clothes.

He was then put in the bed of a truck and driven around for a while before he was dumped off about 8 miles away from the home where he was assaulted.

The victim was "told to keep his mouth shut, or else,” according to court documents.

Glanz was interviewed by police after his arrest Thursday and admitted they had attacked the victim, and said it was Barbee who shot the man in the eye with the BB gun. Glanz said he had also shot the victim with the BB gun.

Glanz also said he was the one who burned the victim with a cigarette, and that Peoples-Morse put the Suboxone strip in the victim's mouth.

When the victim asked for water, Glanz said he got him a glass of hot or warm water because "it was not refreshing."

Glanz also told police he emptied the victim's pockets and took $100 and other things.

During questioning by police, Barbee allegedly admitted shooting the victim in the face with the BB gun.

He also said he had stopped the other attackers from using brass knuckles on the victim.

Barbee told police he took the victim's hair and gave it to a guy that the victim "had previously beaten up."

At one point Barbee stated he was scared if he wasn't there to stop them, the others would have killed the man, according to court documents.

During a court appearance Friday, Barbee, Glanz, and Cuevas were ordered held until their next court appearance Tuesday, March 9.

Bail was set at $100,000 each.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Anna Phillips said the suggested bail amount was appropriate given "the depraved nature of the conduct."

Superior Court Judge Keith Harper agreed and said the alleged crimes were "quite remarkable and quite extraordinary."

The men arrested in the incident posed a high danger to the community, Harper said.

"The allegations are quite alarming," the judge added.

"It's lucky this guy wasn't murdered or killed. It's lucky he survived," Harper said.

Detectives with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the Port Townsend Police Department are continuing their investigation.

The residence where the assault allegedly took place was under scrutiny by police after a resident who lived there was arrested earlier this week for alleged mail theft and possession of a firearm and a homemade explosive device.

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, an additional explosive was found in the home after a search warrant was obtained.