Staff Reports
Three California men admitted Monday that they threw rocks and used their feet and fists to bash in a limousine, causing more than $7,600 damage, but said they were so intoxicated they can't remember what happened.
Danie Radasa, 24, of Sacramento, Arron Cluck, 26, of Camino and Damian Butler, 22, of Placerville, Calif., appeared before District Judge Michael Gibbons on Monday.
They admitted damaging the 2000 Lincoln limousine in the parking lot of the Round Hill Mall early March 31.
Two other suspects are to appear next week.
"I saw my friend get ran over by the limousine," Radasa said. "I head-butted the window. I woke up in jail. I was drunk and everything is a little bit fuzzy."
Butler claimed he was struck by the limousine and required five staples in his head.
"I was really intoxicated," he said. "I believed I was Superman without a cape. I jumped in the air to avoid being run over and was struck. I think the driver was pretty mad at us."
"This sounds like something out of a movie," Gibbons said.
Prosecutor Kris Brown said deputies' reports indicated that the driver, Kevin Pointer, 52, of Reno, was in the parking lot finishing up paperwork when he was approached by the group which started arguing over right of way.
According to reports, the group started harassing Pointer, trying to strike him in the face through an open window. They punched and hit the vehicle, spit on the window, and fled when Pointer indicated he was calling for help.
He followed them to get their license number, when their truck stopped and they jumped out and reportedly rushed the limousine.
According to a witness, Butler jumped on the limousine and tried to shatter the windshield with his feet. He fell off when Pointer tried to drive away.
Gibbons set sentencing for July 16 for Radasa who is in Douglas County Jail on a parole hold for California.
Butler and Cluck are to be sentenced Aug. 6.
They face up to a year in Douglas County Jail, a $2,000 fine and restitution.
-- A four-day trial is set Aug. 14 for Fidel Fuentes, 25, of Carson City, who pleaded not guilty Monday to possession of stolen property, a firearm, in connection with a March 12 incident in Indian Hills with Washoe Tribal Police.
Fuentes was bound over to District Court after a preliminary hearing Friday before East Fork Justice Jim EnEarl who determined there was enough evidence that the crime was committed.
Fuentes was a passenger in a vehicle reportedly driven by Robert Michael Hernandez, 20, of Carson City, which rammed the tribal police cruiser.
Hernandez fled the scene and was arrested April 29 in Palm Springs, Calif., on several new charges and the Douglas County arrest warrant. He reportedly is serving 16 months in prison in California.
Fuentes was arrested shortly after the early morning incident when deputies found him in a backyard in the neighborhood where the altercation took place.
The weapon, reported missing by a Carson City resident, was found on a cul-de-sac where the incident occurred. Deputies showed a video at the preliminary hearing from a Washoe Tribal officer's patrol car which shows an object being tossed out of Hernandez's car.
The prosecution alleged that Fuentes tossed out the gun and knew it was stolen.
He currently is in custody in Carson City on a probation violation.
-- Sentencing was continued to July 16 for a 23-year-old Bay area man who tried to register as a Douglas High School student with an altered passport.
Lawyer Tod Young told District Judge Michael Gibbons on Monday that his client, Bradley J. Coushman, was in custody in San Jose, Calif., on a probation violation in connection with the Douglas County case.
Coushman faces up to four years in Nevada State Prison and a $5,000 fine if the crime of attempted possession of a document to establish false identity is a felony.
If Gibbons treats the offense as a gross misdemeanor, Coushman would face up to a year in the Douglas County Jail and a $2,000 fine.
He tried to enroll at Douglas High on Sept. 11, 2006.
Proceedings have been delayed several times since Coushman's arrest, and Gibbons asked Young to produce his client or get a waiver of personal appearance for the new sentencing date.
