19-time Tri-Cities felon headed to prison for brutal attack on a friend’s landlords

Paul A. McVay had 17 prior convictions when he forced his way into a Kennewick apartment and helped beat the landlords with a metal pole.

The brutal attack last December left a man with a broken arm and a woman, who was four months pregnant, bleeding.

McVay claims he was defending his friend’s property after the couple, who were his friend’s former landlords, came into the apartment and were packing up stuff.

But a Benton County jury rejected McVay’s defense and found him guilty of first-degree burglary, second-degree assault and fourth-degree assault.

And he was facing from nine years in prison to 11 years and eight months.

“I’m just asking for a lighter sentence,” he told Judge David Peterson. “I’ve been trying to change my life.”

But Deputy Prosecutor Brittnie Roehm asked Peterson to send a message by ordering the maximum term.

Peterson responded, “This court is not going to send a message, because Mr. McVay does not listen. The court is not going to send a message, but is going to impose the sentence it believes you deserve.”

Peterson sentenced McVay to the maximum, which also included a mandatory two years for using a deadly weapon in the attack.

He pointed out that McVay has lengthy criminal history, which began in 1990 and includes burglary, forgery, identity theft and delivering drugs.

Buchanan attack

Court documents show the problems started between the landlords at 1106 N. Buchanan St. and renter Derek Ross when they got numerous complaints about drug activity in the apartment.

One of the landlords, Ali Almosawi, told police he started the eviction process to move Ross out. He had been talking with the other man through Facebook about moving out.

Ross had told him that he would leave, but kept delaying. He finally promised that he would move out on Dec. 16, 2021.

Almosawi and his wife, Elaf Almosawi, met Ross outside the apartment where they collected his keys.

“Ross told him he still had some property inside the apartment and would be back later with his ‘brother’ to pick it up,” according to court documents.

The couple were still in the apartment some time later when they heard a knock on the door. When Ali Almosawi opened the door, McVay pepper sprayed him in the face and forced his way in.

He was allegedly joined by his girlfriend Mandy Anderson and Ross.

The three allegedly began attacking the couple. McVay used what Ali Almosawi thought was a metal baseball bat and began hitting him and his wife.

As he was being beaten, Ali Almosawi brought up his arm and McVay broke it with the weapon. Ross then started punching and kicking him.

Meanwhile, Anderson allegedly grabbed his wife by the hair and yelled, “I’m going to pull your baby out and kill it.”

The injured couple managed to get out of the apartment and called 911.

As officers arrived on the scene, Ross called 911 to report a break in. A detective approaching the back of the apartment said he heard one man say he had “just called them,” while another man instructed him about what to say.

Ross eventually confirmed that McVay told him to report the burglary so they would seem like the victims.

Ross pleaded guilty to the first-degree burglary, second degree assault and harassment in April. Judge Alex Ekstrom sentenced him to 7 1/2 years in prison.

Anderson is charged first-degree burglary, second degree assault and harassment. Her trial is set for Sept. 26.

This was not the first time McVay claimed he was defending himself in the case of a violent crime. He said he felt threatened by Keyton R. Sykes in October 2013 during an argument at the Union Gospel Mission.

Witnesses said he stabbed the man with a pocket knife. He was convicted after three trials but an appellate court overturned it.

The jury in a new trial acquitted him of the charge.