Woman accused of rewiring power tools to shock husband

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A woman angry that her husband left her is accused of tampering with his power tools so that when he tried to use his table saw Jan. 1, he received a powerful electrical shock and was "knocked to the ground," court records state. Carolyn Paulsen-Riat, 33, was booked Friday into the Thurston County Jail after her arrest on suspicion of one count of third-degree assault, domestic violence, and two counts of second-degree malicious mischief. She has no prior criminal record, court papers state. According to court papers: After the man was shocked in his wife's home in the 2700 block of 45th Avenue in Olympia, he confronted her and she "told him that she had tampered with his tools by switching the positive and negative leads on his tools to intentionally harm him." The man, who works as a carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, told investigators with the Thurston County Sheriff's Office that the table saw carried 220 volts. The "arch from the plug adapter knocked him into some boxes located along the wall of the work shop," he told authorities. Reports do not suggest that the man was badly hurt, and he did not need to go to the hospital, Thurston County sheriff's Sgt. Cheryl Stines said. When detectives spoke with Paulsen-Riat, "she admitted that she had crossed the wires on (his) power tools on September 28, 2009, because she was angry with him for leaving."