Accused dog stabber back in jail
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, July 21, 2026
An Oak Harbor man who was wanted for months on a $250,000 warrant after allegedly threatening a woman and stabbing a dog is back in jail, according to court documents.
James L. Mathis, 39, was arrested last week and appeared for a warrant identification hearing in Island County Superior Court Monday. In March, a judge ordered the warrant for his arrest after he failed to appear for a hearing.
Prosecutors charged Mathis earlier this year with two counts of felony harassment and one count of animal cruelty in the first degree.
In March, the Oak Harbor Police Department issued a press release that described Mathis as armed and dangerous. Officers received a tip on March 31 that Mathis was hiding at a home on Libbey Road, but they didn’t find him.
An officer with the Oak Harbor Police Department started investigating the case on Feb. 9 after a woman reported that Mathis had threatened to kill her and a friend, according to the officer’s report. She said he got angry when she left the home to help a friend move a vehicle and threw items at her when she returned; she suffered bruises across her body, the report states.
When the woman and her friend tried to leave with the children, Mathis allegedly broke the car’s windshield, according to the report.
One of the women also reported that Mathis stabbed her pitbull two days earlier. She reported that Mathis pushed the dog and it bit him. Mathis “went after” the dog and stabbed it with a knife, the officer wrote; she believed he would kill the dog if she didn’t intervene.
The dog was taken to an Oak Harbor veterinary office and was treated, which was funded by crisis care funds from Whidbey Animals’ Improvement Foundation. The medical report states that the dog suffered a two-inch-long stab wound, and the veterinarian inserted drainage tubes that were removed two weeks later.
Court records show Mathis has previously faced charges of cyberstalking, domestic assault and felony assault after allegedly shooting a woman in the buttocks.
