Downtown Puyallup Martial Arts Studio Shutters After Public Feud With Neighboring Gift Shop

• 'Egging' and smearing spit across their cars, plus breaking car windows
• Stealing security cameras
• Smoking marijuana near the gym's back entrance while kids were coming in and out of the business
• Trespassing
• Harassment and threats - to both them and their patrons 

“People constantly rotate through there and there are always new faces,” said Lynell, an active duty police officer. “And we’ve heard, from our students, that [Baskets and Things] is a known drug house at PHS.”

Then, the charges against the Rays started rolling in. A complaint that the Rays were living in an unapproved residence above the studio prompted a city investigation and expensive renovations had to be made to bring their space up to code.

Their living situation was always 'don't ask, don't tell' with the city before, Lynell said.

Animal Control was called on the Rays for chicken coops on the roof and noise complaints from other neighboring businesses started filing in, after the morning boot camps were deemed to be too loud.

Then, Matthew was accused of being a child molester and 'peeping Tom' without any evidence of inappropriate action.

“It was like the Bermuda Triangle was closing in on us,” said Lynell. “It just escalated so much, that’s when we started to hermitize ourselves.”

Lynn maintains that Matthew Ray is a “bully” and has attacked her business. She says the young people she took under her wing are intimidated by Ray, who constantly tried to get them to “fight him.” Among other things, Lynn accused Lee's Martial Arts Studio of the following:

• Smearing animal feces across her business
• Picking fights without cause
• Bad-mouthing Baskets and Things to LMA students and families
• Threatening and insulting verbal attacks
• Slanderous accusations against Baskets and Things on Facebook and in print

Within 6 months of Lynn taking over the business, the Rays put LMA on the market, although they planned to be in the space for 30 years. They purchased a home in the county and stopped paying their bills at the end of 2012, after they were advised that the most advantageous thing for them to do was legally “abandon” their business.

The final decision to close for good came when one of LMA’s adult female students was threatened this April, said Matthew. One of Lynn’s tenants allegedly pointed a nerf gun at the woman in the street and said “die, b****, die.” 

The gun looked real, the Rays said. That moment, which frightened the woman and her children, was the final straw.

“That was my last day in class,” said Matthew.

“Once parents were afraid for their child’s safety at our school, we started to get concerned,” Lynell added. “For someone to possibly get injured, or killed—it just isn’t worth it.”  

Lynn said the woman, who was granted a restraining order against the young man by a Pierce County judge, is lying and has threatened her.

“The kids were sitting in the window, playing with the nerf gun,” said Lynn. “The next day, I was walking my dog and [Matthew] came up to me, yelling about my son and his friends. When I said I didn’t know what he was talking about, he said, 'you’ll know when I slam your face into the ground.'”

When it comes to her taste in tenants, Lynn maintains that “kids are kids,” and she is a good person with a soft spot for troubled youth. Growing up, her family welcomed anyone and everyone to their table.

“My son’s friend, who I didn’t know at all, came to me and said, ‘Darcie, I need a place to stay. I’m a fifth year senior and need to finish high school,” said Lynn. “He never paid me a dime in rent and never rented a room. He lived here for about 7 or 8 months, then he graduated. Another situation—this girl and her boyfriend—I found out he was beating her up and told her she didn’t deserve that. And to this day, that girl is living with her mom and is out of that relationship... They aren’t horrible people.”

Lynn said that she has a separate residence from her young friends and that their marijuana use is legal—they are over 21 years old and it’s not against the law anymore. 

Engle said that many of the problems between the Rays, Lynn and other business owners in the area are strictly civil disputes and that police have become a “pawn” in their fight.

“Every time our response wasn’t what they wanted, they’d complain. And we’ve investigated the responding officers every time and have found no cause to their claims,” said Engle. “We’ve certainly been the target on both sides, when we are doing our jobs--to be fair and impartial.”

After walking away from his business and investment, Matthew Ray says he is done with Puyallup and will likely never own another martial arts studio again. Several black belts from the studio are looking to re-launch LMA in a different location, but he doesn’t want to be involved.

Lynn said she is trying to move forward and wants “peace” on her block. She’d like to see a restaurant move into the LMA space.

“I dare the next 300 people to come in to my store and say that I’m not nice,” Lynn said. “I would bet my life, my kids on it. What business owner, in their right mind, would run out into the street and yell ‘get the f*** off my sidewalk?”