EPHRATA — A Moses Lake man was sentenced for threatening a man with a knife during a physical confrontation after the man accused him of raping a woman.

Joe Henson, 38, a transient living in Moses Lake, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and unlawful carrying or handling of a weapon. Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz followed a joint recommendation between Deputy Prosecutor Carole Highland and defense attorney Stephen Kozer and sentenced Henson to 12 months and a day on the meth charge and 364 days with 344 days suspended for two years on the unlawful weapon carrying charge. The sentences are set to run consecutively. A charge of fourth-degree assault was dropped in a plea agreement between Highland and Kozer.

Henson’s sentence stems from an incident on May 7, when a Moses Lake Police Department officer was on patrol and spotted two men fighting in the 1000 block of South Division Street. The officer contacted one of the two men at the corner of Hill Avenue and Division Street. The man stated Henson had punched him in the mouth and pulled a knife on him.

The officer contacted Henson who stated he was “being ganged up on” and was attempting to defend himself. As Henson was being detained and placed into handcuffs for investigative purposes, he attempted to reach into his right front pocket and the MLPD officer grabbed his left wrist. The officer gained control of Henson’s right hand and upon searching him found a large knife sheath tucked into his belt line with no knife.

The victim stated that earlier in the day a woman told him Henson had raped her and pulled her hair. He said he confronted Henson about the allegations and told him to leave the woman alone. Henson became upset about the rape accusation and punched the man in the mouth. After a brief scuffle, Henson grabbed a knife that was tucked into his waistband and told the man he would stab him. The knife in question, which the victim described as a Bowie knife, was located on the ground near a truck parked on East Hill Avenue.

Hanson told police he was walking to an apartment complex to contact a woman, the same woman who the assault victim said was raped by Henson, to see how she was doing. He had returned to town the previous night. He said as he approached the apartment he was contacted by the male assault victim, who began accusing him of raping the woman. He said he pushed the man and punched him after he got into his face.

“Henson told me he never grabbed or pulled out his knife and he always carries the knife. Henson stated he was afraid and ran to get away from the incident,” wrote a officer. “I asked Henson how the knife came out of the sheath if he did not pull it out. Henson stated the knife fell out while he was running in the area of the trucks parked on Hill Avenue.”

After Henson was booked into the Grant County Jail a officer searched the remainder of his property and located a small bag containing meth in a pocket Bible. When asked what the substance in the bag was, Henson said, “Bad stuff, it is mine. I am not going to lie about it.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.