POLSON — Arnold McDonald pleaded guilty in Lake County District Court last Thursday to charges of Partner or Family Member Assault and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence after allegedly holding a gun to his partner’s head, then asking her to lie about it later and hiding the weapon under his residence.

The 52-year-old St. Ignatius man will be sentenced on Wednesday, April 11 as part of a plea agreement and should get a five and half year suspended sentence. McDonald faces a misdemeanor charge from the assault and a felony charge for tampering with evidence.

According to Lake County Sheriff’s reports, on Oct. 29, authorities responded to a possible domestic assault at McDonald’s residence near St. Ignatius. His partner told authorities over the phone that he had held a gun to her head.

When police interviewed the victim on scene, she initially said no gun was involved and the defendant had held a stick to her head. When authorities said she would be charged with a false report if that were the case, she admitted there was a gun involved.

After officers got permission to search the residence, they found a rifle placed in the crawl space beneath the residence via a hatch in the floor of a closet.

The victim said that she and McDonald had been arguing all day and she had called her son to come pick her up. According to court documents, McDonald shoved the victim against the door and pointed a rifle at her head. The victim left the residence and called police, then went back inside when her cell phone died. McDonald apologized to her before authorities showed up and said to tell police that he had pointed a stick at her head. The victim responded that she was tired of lying for him.

When talking with police, the victim said that McDonald’s actions had “scared the sh** out of her” and she did not know what McDonald was going to do to her.

Authorities interviewed McDonald, who said he got the gun because he had received a threatening voicemail from the victim’s son. He then said he had “hidden the gun because…” and then refused to answer any more questions.