A Pullman man under suspicion of stealing his brother’s identity pleaded guilty to second-degree identity theft, third-degree malicious mischief and making false or misleading statements to a public servant in Whitman County Superior Court on Friday.
Bradley Hammond, 31, was sentenced to five years of unsupervised probation, along with a five-year no-contact order from his partner. He’s ordered to complete a domestic violence perpetrator program in Idaho. Hammond must also pay a $500 crime victim fee, $100 DNA testing fee and $100 domestic violence assessment fee.
Hammond was arrested March 6 on a warrant for the three charges, but the case began last year. An officer at the Pullman Police Department pulled over a black Toyota Corolla for expired tabs in December 2022. Police observed two people in the vehicle, one in the driver’s seat and the other in the back seat.
The woman behind the wheel handed the officer her license and registration, and at that time a call came in for a vehicle matching the same description for malicious mischief at Safeway.
The department received a report of a domestic dispute, as a man broke a car’s window in the middle of a verbal fight. The officer observed the woman’s passenger seat window had been broken and the man in the back seat had a bloody hand.
When questioned, both confirmed the man broke the car window. He was charged with third-degree malicious mischief, but he provided a false identity.
Police found Hammond, now identified, had given his brother’s identification to the officer, and that he and his girlfriend lied to police. His brother was summoned to district court for the malicious mischief charge, and when he didn’t show a warrant went out for his arrest.
Officers also interacted with Hammond in February and March, when he provided his real name. After reviewing body camera footage, officers found Hammond had given the wrong name and his brother was being charged for crimes he didn’t commit.
Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy said in court Hammond gave his officers his brother’s name because Hammond had a warrant for his arrest in Idaho, and didn’t want to be apprehended.
Hammond faces up to two years in jail in Idaho for pending charges of possession of a controlled substance, Tracy said. He also has a long history of burglaries, misdemeanor assaults and domestic violence incidents in Lewiston and Moscow.
According to Tracy, Hammond was charged with battery domestic violence without traumatic injury in Lewiston in 2016, domestic battery in Lewiston in 2017, assault domestic violence in Moscow in 2018, and domestic violence with attempted strangulation in Lewiston in 2019. He also has past convictions in Nez Perce County for possession of controlled substances.
Hammond said in court he sees this sentencing as an opportunity to grow and to not let his crimes define him as a person. He added he has found a sponsor while in jail and admitted he had been drinking too much. He plans on starting a handyman business after he has been sentenced and served his time in Idaho.
Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com
