Local charges against Capone dismissed; fed indictment expected | Crime

ASOTIN, WA - 51-year-old Charles Capone appeared via video link this afternoon while his attorney, Mark Monson, appeared via telephone as Asotin County Superior Court Judge William Acey approved a contract for dismissal of charges no later than May 1st. Capone is facing one count of 2nd-degree assault-domestic violence against his missing estranged wife.

40-year-old Rachael Anderson was last seen on April 16, 2010. The alleged assault happened on December 27, 2009 - just days before Anderson filed for divorce.

Prosecutor Ben Nichols agreed to the contract with an expectation that a federal grand jury will hand down an indictment against Capone on significantly more serious charges sometime in April. Capone is considered a "person of interest" in Anderson's disappearance. Nichols says the most Capone could have received from the assault case - if convicted - is 6 to 12 months in jail, and he has already been held for about eight months.