Machete-wielding homeless man charged with assault

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged a 42-year-old homeless man with one count of second-degree assault for allegedly threatening to assault an employee of an Auburn hotel with a machete last week.

Brian Rupe, alias Joda D.L. Lane, 42, is in the King County Jail on $5,000 bail.

Rupe’s arraignment is at 9 a.m. April 26 in the GA courtroom of the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

According to court records, Lane’s record includes convictions in other states for murder, battery and burglary. At the time of his arrest on April 7, court records say, drugs were found on his person.

According to the Auburn Police Department’s Certification for Determination of Probable Cause, below is a summary of what happened.

Shortly after 8:30 p.m. on April 7, a front-desk employee of the Holiday Inn at 507 C St. SW called 911 to report that a homeless man had just threatened him with a machete.

According to documents, when police arrived, the alarmed employee pointed to a man in the hotel lobby, and said, “That’s him.” Lane was arrested and taken into custody without incident.

According to documents, the employee told the officer the incident started when a hotel guest had complained about an unknown homeless man who was yelling incoherently at guests on the second floor of the building.

According to to documents, the employee told the officer he had gone up to the second floor to ask the man to leave, but when he got within 3 feet, the man reached behind his back with his left hand, produced a 2-foot-long machete, held it in front of him, pointed it at the employee, and snarled, “Get the [expletive] away from me!”

According to documents, fearful the man would use the machete against him, the employee backed away with his hands in the air and dropped back down to the lobby, where he called 911. When the man with the machete walked down to the lobby, the officer was there to arrest him.