Spokane man accused of kidnapping, armed robbery, armed burglary, assault in 3 incidents

A 27-year-old Spokane man doesn’t have a felony criminal record, investigators pointed out in recent court filings, but that may soon change, as charges stack up under his name.

Justin D. Rounds is accused of three robberies going back to June 2018, according to court documents. The two most recent – and allegedly violent – cases took place last October and Christmas, when he was initially suspected of attempted murder by police. He is now charged with armed robbery, armed burglary, assault and kidnapping between those two cases.

Rounds was arraigned in Spokane County Superior Court on Tuesday in relation to the Oct. 14 robbery, where he and two others are accused of breaking into friends’ apartment while they were home and stealing a safe, court documents say.

The victims, a couple, were watching TV in their Spokane Valley apartment when they heard a knock at their door, according to court documents. The male victim looked through the peep hole, thought he recognized Rounds and went to open the door when someone on the other side started to force it open.

As the male victim tried to close the door, he said another man stuck his arm through the door holding a gun, court documents say. The male victim told investigators he grabbed the suspect’s arm with the gun and continued to struggle until the door opened and four people came inside. The female victim said they were wearing hoods and bandannas over their faces.

The male victim said he tried to get help but then saw the suspects leaving, according to court documents. At one point he said he heard someone say to get a safe. Witnesses reported seeing the suspects leave with a safe in a white car. One man kicked the car as it left.

The female victim identified Rounds and his girlfriend, Heather J. Utecht, 24, as potential suspects because she had an ongoing disagreement with Utecht, who knew the couple had a safe with money in it, court documents say.

Investigators tracked Rounds and Utecht to their residence near Chief Garry Park in Spokane but were not able to contact them, according to court documents. The next day Rounds’ mother reported being robbed at gunpoint at that residence. Investigators wrote they believed it may have been retaliation for the Spokane Valley robbery the day before.

Witnesses to the Spokane robbery identified Nathan Miles, 34, as someone who often drove Rounds and Utecht around town in a white car, court documents say. Investigators found Miles’ vehicle at his home near Stevens Elementary in Spokane with a dent on the outside and gloves and bandannas inside. The man who kicked the suspect’s car during the Spokane Valley robbery confirmed it was Miles’ car.

After Utecht was arrested on an unrelated robbery warrant on Oct. 15, she admitted to being at the Spokane Valley robbery but claimed she did not leave the car, court documents say.

She said Miles picked up her and Rounds, and the man who had the gun during the robbery demanded to know a place that would be easy to rob. Utecht said Rounds supplied his friends’ address as a target.

Utecht told investigators four men were involved in the robbery and the man with the gun threw his weapon from the car as they fled, court documents say. She said the safe they took contained opioid pills, coins, checks and four fake $100 bills.

Rounds, whose fingerprints were found on Miles’ car, is being held in the Spokane County Jail on a $100,000 bond in relation to the October robbery, according to court documents and jail records. Utecht and Miles are not in custody, and it is unclear if investigators have identified other suspects.

Rounds, along with two other men, is also accused of the Christmas Day robbery and assault of a man who was trying to buy heroin from them in Spokane Valley, according to court documents. His bond for that case was set at $250,000.

The victim, who was covered in blood and ran into the house of a man he didn’t know, told deputies he had brought a gun to the drug deal, court documents say. He said the men who were selling to him drove him a block and then one man choked him with a rope from behind.

The victim said Rounds then opened the car door and they struggled over the gun, which fired twice in his hand, according to court documents. He said Rounds eventually took his pistol, hit him with it and also stabbed him.

Detectives recovered a pouch with about $2,600 and prescription drugs in it, according to court documents. The victim said Nicholas J. Foss, 38, was the driver, and Kody M. Scott, 26, was the man who choked him from behind. They are being held on $300,000 bonds in the Spokane County Jail. All three men were originally suspected of attempted murder by police, but prosecutors did not charge them with it. They are now facing kidnapping, assault and armed robbery charges.

Scott was arrested in October after driving the wrong way on Interstate 90 and a subsequent police chase involving a K-9, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. He had a warrant for identity theft at the time.

Rounds is set to face trial on March 30 in the December robbery, according to court records. At that time he is also scheduled to be tried for the June 2018 robbery, which involved taking his brother’s TV.

The girlfriend of Rounds’ brother told Spokane police that she saw Rounds running out the back door of the residence they shared with their new TV still in the box and hand it over the fence to another person, according to court documents. She said she chased Rounds, who pushed her to the ground when she grabbed his arm.

When the girlfriend showed police Rounds’ room, it was cleaned out as if he had no intention of coming back, court documents say.