Pubdate: Thu, May 20, 1999
Source: Herald, The (WA)
Copyright: 1999 The Daily Herald Co.
Contact:  http://www.heraldnet.com/
Author: Scott North, the Herald

COURT PAPERS: POT LURED MAN TO FATAL MEETING

A Snohomish man was lured to his death May 11 with promises of a $7,500
marijuana deal that instead turned into a lethal robbery, according to
documents filed Wednesday in Snohomish County Superior Court.

On the night that he died, Joshua Glaser, 20, told his brother, Chad
Glaser, 18, that he was headed to a meeting near Arlington so he could buy
up to three pounds of pot, according to search warrants filed by Snohomish
County sheriff's detectives.

Glaser told his brother he'd borrowed a handgun to take to the meeting.

"I told him not to do it," Chad Glaser said in a sworn statement filed
along with the search warrants. "But he insisted. I don't want him selling
drugs, but he said it was a good way to make money."

Glaser was killed during the meeting and his body left by Lake Armstrong
near Arlington, according to court papers.

Two of the people now charged in his death allegedly have admitted they
planned the robbery, and one has acknowledged firing the fatal shot, the
search warrants say.

Matthew Martin Leon and Paul Thorsteinson, both 18 and from Seattle, and
16-year-old Nicholas Edward Anderson of Arlington all have been charged
with aggravated murder.

A single-page Everett District Court complaint alleges Glaser was killed
with "premeditated intent" during a robbery, but contains no other specifics.

Leon and Thorsteinson were arrested Friday after sheriff's detectives were
told they were the people Glaser had planned on meeting for the marijuana
deal, court papers show.

Both allegedly have admitted planning to rob Glaser, and Thorsteinson
allegedly has admitted firing the fatal shot.

Anderson was arrested in Spokane, and detectives brought him to jail in
Everett on Tuesday. The 16-year-old's role in the case is not clearly
spelled out in court papers.

All three suspects are being held at the county jail in Everett in lieu of
$1 million bail.

Although he is a juvenile, Anderson is being treated as an adult in the
case because of the seriousness of the charge. If convicted of the charge,
he faces a maximum punishment of life in prison without possibility of
release.

Leon and Thorsteinson could face the death penalty if convicted as charged
and prosecutors decide to seek that punishment. Under state law, Anderson
is too young for a death sentence.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake