Hermanns Could Face Years In Prison

WALLA WALLA - Waitsburg resident Adam Hermanns could face many years in prison based on new and existing charges brought against the 23-year-old man in Walla Walla County this month.

Hermanns, who was charged mid-April with three felonies that allegedly took place in January, was implicated late last week in five additional felony cases reported just this spring in College Place.

The new charges brought against Hermanns and alleged accomplice Antonia Contreras, 24, of Walla Walla, include robbery and burglary, both first-degree, class A felonies, and assault in the second degree, a class B felony. Additionally, Hermanns was charged with a second count of first-degree burglary and first-degree kidnapping, also class A felonies.

It's not clear, if convicted, how long Hermanns would be sentenced to serve. However, a mixture of Hermanns' previous convictions, which include felonies, and the severity of his new offenses if convicted, would send him to prison for many years, based on complex state sentencing guidelines.

Court documents allege that Hermanns, armed with a handgun in his waistband, and Contreras, brandishing a knife, robbed a resident on Fourth Street in College Place on the night of April 3. The report alleges that Contreras, threatening the two women in the apartment, stole a purse while Hermanns took some prescription medications from the bathroom.

Further investigation by College Place police revealed testimony from Contreras that Hermanns allegedly admitted to committing a burglary on Puff Lane just days prior to the Fourth Street incident. According to the police report, Hermanns is suspected of wearing a ski mask and arming himself with a knife, then entering the apartment of Union Bulletin reporter Andy Porter on the night of March 29.

Porter, who reported to police that he was home at the time and sitting at his dining room table with the door to his apartment left ajar. He said he was confronted by the knife-wielding burglar. According to Porter, a struggle ensued during which the reporter grabbed for the knife and was wounded in the hand. Police reports allege that Porter then drew a revolver from his pants pocket and pointed it at the intruder's chest. The intruder walked back out of the apartment.

The kidnapping case, according to court documents, involved the intentional abduction of one of the two women involved in the Fourth Street robbery "with intent to facilitate the commission of a felony or flight thereafter." Prosecutor Jim Nagle had no further details related to the kidnapping charges by publication time Tuesday evening.

In unrelated cases, Hermanns was charged earlier this month with theft in the second degree, a class C fel- ony, for allegedly stealing a tire and wheels at a residence in Waitsburg on January 21.

He was also charged with first-degree burglary, a class A felony, and theft of a firearm, a class B felony, for allegedly breaking into a home on Mill Creek Road outside of Walla Walla on January 24 and stealing a pistol.

Hermanns goes to trial in Walla Walla County for those two prior cases on May 23. He is scheduled to enter a plea in the new cases on May 9 at 3 p.m.

Hermanns has been in Walla Walla County Jail since his arrest on April 5. New bail has been set in light of the additional charges at $250,000.

In April last year, Hermanns pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of possession of stolen property, a Class C felony, and was sentenced to two months in jail, following his arrest in January 2010.

He was also convicted in 2009 of residential burglary and prior to that, in 2006, for possession of stolen property.