Suspect: Failed marriage led to holdup

By Matt Pordum

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.

The attorney of a man accused of first pointing a gun at a mailbox store owner and then barricading himself inside a Henderson bank on Dec. 3 said his client did it because "his wife left him to become a prostitute and he doesn't want any other men to participate in the Russian mail-order-bride industry."

Douglas McDonald, 45, had his preliminary hearing set on Monday for Jan. 3 in Henderson Justice Court, for his actions at the Bank of America on Horizon Ridge Parkway near U.S. Highway 95 and at a Postnet store on College Drive.

McDonald, who owns an office cleaning store and is a folk singer who has produced two CDs, is specifically charged with one count of aiming a weapon at another human being, two counts of burglary with use of a deadly weapon, one count of discharging a firearm and 10 counts of coercion with use of deadly weapon.

McDonald's attorney, Philip Singer, said his client meant no harm on Dec. 3, saying that he snapped because he believed that his 24-year-old Russian wife, on whom he spent thousands of dollars to bring to the United States, had become a prostitute.

McDonald's wife could not be reached for comment.

Singer said he would argue "heat of passion" in defense of McDonald. He said McDonald alleges the owner of the Postnet store, Gratchia Ovakimian, befriended his wife and then became her pimp.

Singer said his client couldn't find "any women he liked in America" so he turned to "Russian bride magazines" and Web sites. After three trips to Russia, he married in December.

Douglas McDonald told Singer that shortly after the marriage his wife began hanging out with Ovakimian. Singer said his client didn't mind at first because Ovakimian spoke the same language as his wife, but soon McDonald would come home from work to find Ovakimian sitting on his couch smoking cigarettes and neighbors reported "strange men coming and going from the home."

Singer said "two months later she disappeared totally." He said his client then called the FBI trying to locate his wife, but they "blew him off." Finally McDonald confronted Ovakimian who told him his wife "works for me now."

Ovakimian said McDonald's story is entirely "not true." He said "he wasn't a friend" of McDonald's wife and he had "no idea" why McDonald came to his store and aimed a gun at him.

Ovakimian said he is not a pimp and he was currently speaking with an attorney regarding a possible lawsuit against McDonald.

Singer said that the bank incident occurred because McDonald went off like a "time bomb," first going to the Postnet that Ovakimian owned and pulling a gun on him. McDonald "couldn't pull the trigger," but because he already "cocked the chamber" he left the store and shot the gun in the air, Singer said.

Ovakimian said he was tending to a customer when McDonald arrived. He said McDonald "pulled out the gun and aimed it at me; I had a customer here and after they ran away he ran outside the store and fired the gun before going over to the bank."

Singer said McDonald then decided to go to the Bank of America where he had an account to get the message out and prevent other men from "making the mistake and finding a Russian bride."

He said his client first called the FBI and told them to find his wife and at the very least get a recording of her so he would know that she was safe. Singer said his client never harmed anyone at the bank and simply ordered them to leave.

Singer said he thinks it's "ridiculous" that McDonald is being charged with 10 counts of coercion with use of deadly weapon, one for each bank employee who left the bank, because his client ordered the bank manager to evacuate the building.

Police contacted McDonald, who was alone inside the bank branch, by telephone. After speaking with a crisis negotiator for several hours and after being played a tape of his wife saying that she was safe, McDonald surrendered peacefully. The standoff caused authorities to close the entrance and exit ramps of U.S. 95 until 4 p.m.

Singer said his client is doing well now and he's been taken off suicide watch at the Henderson jail. He said the folk singer who performs at the Cowboy Trail Rides at Red Rock Canyon is currently writing lyrics while in custody and he might have another CD coming out "based on the pain he's going through."