An inmate of the Jefferson County Jail has pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle, and now faces charges of possession and use of a controlled substance in a correctional facility.

Port Townsend resident Kele Ryan Lorecki, 26, was in custody for residential burglary and second-degree theft when he allegedly committed five counts of third-degree assault on a law enforcement officer, with two counts of assault against Deputy Erik Allen, and one count each of assault against deputies James Webberley, James Brayden Goodier and John Thomas, according to court documents.

Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Keith Harper accepted the joint recommendation of Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Anna Phillips and public defender Richard Davies on Sept. 8 that Lorecki receive a sentence of 60 days in jail on a felony elusion charge, with Lorecki also receiving credit for the time he’s already spent in custody at the Jefferson County Jail.

Lorecki had pleaded guilty Sept. 1 to one count of assault in exchange for the dismissal of four other counts of assault, before striking a similar plea bargain in his return to court Sept. 8, when he pleaded guilty to felony charges of attempting to elude police, in exchange for the dismissal of charges of theft of a motor vehicle.

Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Julie St. Marie said an additional count of possession of controlled substance by a person serving a sentence was added to the charges on Sept. 7. The drug Lorecki allegedly received was heroin, she said.

“Another inmate introduced the contraband,” St. Marie said of the new charge.

MOVING ON

Also on Sept. 8, Harper suspended Lorecki’s driver’s license for a year and has required him to make restitution for the vehicle he stole, although the amount of restitution has yet to be determined.

“I’m eager to move on,” Lorecki said in court Sept. 8. “I want to put that part of my life behind me and start a new life.”

Lorecki is to be arraigned Sept. 22 on charges of possession and use of a controlled substance in the county jail.

Davies told the court that Lorecki had been clean for 53 days prior to the incident.

St. Marie anticipated that Lorecki would petition for drug court on the residential burglary and second-degree theft charges, as well as the heroin charge.

“Drug court time depends on progress, but it typically takes a year and a half to two years to complete,” St. Marie said.