Man arrested after standoff was out on bond and didn’t show up for court hearing
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AMMON — The Ammon man arrested after a standoff Sunday evening was wanted for failing to follow the rules set up for him when he was released on bond.
Corey Ray Kent, 27, was previously charged with felony first-degree stalking and misdemeanor violation of a protection order after deputies say he repeatedly contacted a woman he had a prior relationship with.
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According to court documents obtained by EastIdahoNews.com, the victim contacted law enforcement on June 16 saying Kent had violated a previous civil protection order by repeatedly sending her text messages, including ones describing activities at the victim’s home.
On June 17, the victim told Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputies, Kent “was escalating his behavior.” She said Kent had friends and family “call and harass her.” The victim told deputies she feared Kent would possibly take her daughter.
Kent claimed the text messages were not from him and told deputies his number wasn’t attached to the messages. Deputies determined the texts came from the TextNow app, which assigns users a different number.
Kent had multiple run-ins with deputies for violations of the protection orders. His record shows several arrests, and every time he paid the bond and was released.
On July 3, Kent was arraigned for the felony stalking charge. Shortly afterward he posted the $7,500 bond and was released to pretrial supervision. As part of his pretrial release agreement, Kent agreed to participate in frequent drug testing.
According to court documents filed on Aug. 6, Kent failed to show up to the drug testing seven times. Kent also failed to show up for a preliminary hearing on Friday, prompting the court to file a warrant for his arrest.
Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputies located Kent at the 1500 block of South Falcon Drive Sunday around 7 p.m. . Kent refused to come outside of the home and investigators received information he may be armed, which led to the standoff, according to a news release.
Deputies set up a perimeter and called in a SWAT team, displacing more than a dozen nearby residents in the area, according to sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Bryan Lovell.
After around four hours of attempted negotiations, law enforcement stormed the house, deployed tear gas and a K-9 while Kent barricaded himself inside a bathroom.
Deputies did not locate any firearms during the search of the home, Lovell said.
After SWAT teams arrested Kent, they transported him to the Bonneville County Jail on the felony warrant and misdemeanor charges of disturbing the peace and resisting arrest.
Kent was charged with two additional misdemeanor violations of a no-contact order as of Monday afternoon.
He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 4 at the Bonneville County Courthouse.