Castle Rock, Wa -(11-14-17) Shortly after 8:00 a.m. a Castle Rock resident was alerted on his smart phone by his alarm system that an intruder was at his back door. The resident check the video surveillance system and saw a man trying to break in to his house. He took a screen shot of the suspect and called 911. He was able to text the photo of the suspect to deputies who were on scene.
Cowlitz Deputies and Castle Rock Police arrived on scene in about 7 minutes. They surrounded the house and saw that a window had been forced open and they heard movement inside the house.
The home owner, Austin Kohler who lives in the 200 block of Buland Drive, was able to view the camera system on his smart phone in real time and noticed that several firearms that were in the house had been moved. The deputies called for a K9 and the Lower Columbia SWAT to respond.
The SWAT members gave commands by voice and by PA system demanding the suspect to give up. There was no reply by the suspect. A robot was sent in to the house to aid in searching the residence.
The SWAT team entered the house and found the suspect hiding in a closet in a spare bedroom right at 11: 00 a.m. The suspect, ROBERT J DEPRIEST, 31 years of age had picked up a rifle and a loaded .357 revolver, several knives and 2 cell phones and took them with him as he hid in the closet. The rifle was found in the bedroom, near where he was hiding; the pistol was found in the closet and the knives and cell phones were in his pockets.
DePriest told deputies he was just looking for food.
DePriest, who also lives in Castle Rock, was book for Burglary 1st degree as well as on an outstanding DWLS warrant out of Castle Rock. DePriest was not known to the home owner.
(Answers to commonly asked questions by the media): We are not releasing any photos of the case. We are also not going to contact the victim and ask him if he is willing to contact the various media sources. We do not know DePriests criminal history.