Olympia man allegedly threatened transient with machete, knife

An Olympia man was arrested after allegedly threatening to harm two individuals using a knife and a machete.

Jesse Allan Pogue, 21, was arrested on Sept. 30 after another man reported that he had just stopped Pogue from robbing a homeless person at the 7-Eleven store on the 3500 block of Martin Way E.

The homeless man told police that a male, later identified as Pogue, exited the store and looked at him while making a slitting motion at his neck using his finger.

The man said Pogue also threatened to “kick his a*s” and take all his belongings. The suspect then walked off.

Police described the man as “visibly shaken and looked as though he may have just been crying.” The man said his personal items were all he had, and he did not understand why Pogue would take them.

The man feared Pogue would carry out his threats because the suspect had a knife and a machete.

Meanwhile, the reporting party told police that he came out of the store and saw Pogue threatening the transient man by making a stabbing gesture.

He said he saw a machete handle sticking out of Pogue’s backpack. This prompted him to grab a hammer from his car, but he put it back soon after.

The reporting party said he then began to walk toward Pogue and the homeless man, but the suspect had already walked eastbound onto the middle of Lilly Road NE and said, “Come get some” and “I’ll kill you” while lifting his shirt to expose a knife.

Police said surveillance footage from the store captured a man matching Pogue’s description, although his face was partly covered by a bandana.

Pogue was located in the 3800 block of Martin Way. A search of the suspect yielded a machete, a knife, and two small containers containing white, crystal-like substances.

Police said presumptive results from field drug test kits indicated that the substances were cocaine and methamphetamine. Pogue said it was “family ashes.”

The suspect was booked into the Thurston County Jail for harassment – threats to kill and harassment.