Man pleads not guilty in case of threatening teens

Published 10:48 am Thursday, December 17, 2015

The man arrested for making threats toward a group of teenagers pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

Jamie Lee Chris Schammel, 32, was arrested Sept. 25 and charged with one count of felony second-degree assault and one count of felony terroristic threats.

Schammel

Schammel

According to the police report, Schammel allegedly approached a chain link fence on the property line where a victim and a group of her friends between the ages of 12 and 15 were having a bonfire in the backyard. According to the complaint, Schammel started calling the group racial slurs and profanities. The victim asked the suspect to leave, but instead he allegedly took out an expandable baton, and later a knife, and came toward her, according to a court complaint. After the group ran to the house, Schammel went back to his bicycle and rode off.

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Officers later found him at the 600 Block of 10th Drive Southeast. He initially denied being involved but later admitted to being involved, saying the group started it, according to the report.

Schammel also pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of two counts of gross misdemeanor driving while intoxicated from a separate incident.

This isn’t Schammel’s first run-in with law enforcement. In 2013, Schammel was sentenced to 17 months in prison for threatening his father in 2012, where he reportedly went to Lyle and got into a dispute with a man at the Lyle Body Shop. Officers found Schammel’s father standing with a board and Schammel upset that his father was going to give away his belongings if he didn’t retrieve them. Officers also found a wrench that was reportedly Schammel’s weapon. After being arrested, he tried to kick out the rear window of the police car.

Schammel was also convicted for third-degree murder in 2003 because of his role in a meth lab explosion that killed a man. He was also convicted of fifth-degree domestic assault in November 2009.

Schammel is scheduled for court March 28, 2016.