Third man arrested following fatal alleged drug robbery in Bellingham

Bellingham Police arrested a man Friday who they allege shot a man who died during a suspected drug robbery last month.

Wayne Daniel Sewell, 24, remained in Whatcom County Jail Saturday, Nov. 5, on a $750,000 appearance bond on charges of 1st-degree robbery, 1st-degree assault and three counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, according to Whatcom county Jail booking records.

Sewell was found near a car at a Ferndale casino parking lot Friday, Nov. 4, according to an email from Bellingham Police Lt. Claudia Murphy. A .380 caliber handgun with five rounds in the magazine was found and impounded, Murphy said. As a convicted felon, Sewell is not permitted to possess a firearm.

Police say Sewell was in the car with Darian Polee when he allegedly conspired with Isaiah Mayshack to rob Matthew Roberts on Oct. 16, according to Murphy.

Polee allegedly knew Roberts was visiting from Oregon and had “a large quantity of narcotics,” according to earlier reporting in The Bellingham Herald.

“As a direct result of this pre-planned robbery in which Polee conspired to steal Roberts’ drugs by threat with a firearm, Mayshack sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the chest, and Roberts sustained a life-threatening gunshot wound to the upper torso and required lifesaving medical treatment,” Murphy said.

Police allege Polee drove Sewell and an unidentified woman, along with Roberts, to meet with Mayshack in Bellingham’s Roosevelt neighborhood.

Roberts shot Mayshack in the chest then Sewell shot Roberts in the back from the back seat of the Range Rover, according to witnesses interviewed by detectives, Murphy said.

After the shootings, Roberts called 911 while Polee allegedly drove away without helping either man, according to Murphy.

Investigating officers reportedly found three bags of narcotics around Roberts, two of which field tested positive for the presumptive presence of cocaine and weighed 47.7 grams and 48.8 grams each. The third bag contained 1,000 blue pills that tested positive for the presumptive presence of fentanyl. A handgun was reportedly found directly underneath Roberts.

Polee, 26 of Ferndale, was found Monday, Oct. 31, waist-deep in a farmer’s manure bog, and arrested on charges of robbery and drug possession. He remains in Whatcom County Jail on $500,000 appearance bond.

Mayshack, 31 of Bellingham, died at the hospital Oct. 16 after being dropped off by a private car.

After receiving treatment for injuries sustained in the shooting, Roberts, 28 of Eugene, Oregon, was arrested Oct. 22 and remains held on $1 million appearance bond at Whatcom County jail on charges of second-degree murder.