A 73-year-old Anacortes man was arrested for second-degree assault after he allegedly stabbed his roommate with a broken beer bottle last Wednesday in Port Townsend.

William James Wahrer made his first appearance in Jefferson County Superior Court Thursday on the felony charge. Judge Brandon Mack ordered him held on $10,000 bail.

Wahrer is facing two additional felony counts and one gross misdemeanor; unlawful imprisonment, harassment/threats to kill, and fourth-degree assault. All four charges include sentencing enhancements for domestic violence. 

Wahrer was arrested after police were called to a business on 10th Street just after 6 p.m. June 21. Officers found customers clustered around a woman who had blood smeared on her face and hands.

Officers learned the woman had been sharing an RV with Wahrer since last fall. She said she had been arguing with Wahrer in the RV since that morning, and he started pushing her around.

She also said Wahrer dropped a beer bottle and it broke. He allegedly then picked up a piece of the broken bottle and cut her hand, then told her that if she tried to leave the RV, he would stab her in the neck with the bottle. 

The woman also showed an officer a set of bruises on her right arm that happened during an alleged assault by Wahrer a couple weeks earlier.

Before his arrest, Wahrer told an officer they had argued earlier in the day after he was hungry: He asked her for money, and she wouldn’t give him any.

While being taken to Jefferson County Jail, Wahrer alleged admitted putting his hands on the woman and pushing her. 

The woman was taken to Jefferson Healthcare Medical Center for treatment. An officer removed Wahrer’s Winchester 1897 shotgun from the RV for safekeeping.

Conviction of second-degree assault can result in a maximum conviction of
10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Wahrer’s next court appearance has been set for Friday, June 30.