Grand jury indicts mayor's stepson

Robert Michael Hernandez is to appear in District Court on Monday on a charge of eluding a police officer with bodily harm.

Hernandez, 21, was indicted Feb. 21 by the Douglas County grand jury.

He was accused of leading two Washoe Tribal police officers on a high-speed chase March 12, 2007, that ended when he reportedly rammed a cruiser, injuring an officer.

The injured man, former tribal officer Joshua Rothschild, told the grand jury he was terminated from his job with the Washoe Tribe on Dec. 5, and would be eligible for rehire after he has recovered.

Rothschild said he has had two surgeries to repair crushed vertebrae and expects permanent damage to his range of motion from the accident.

Rothschild and tribal officer Daniel Collier were on patrol March 12, 2007, in Carson City when they observed a sports utility vehicle at traveling a high rate of speed.

Collier told jurors the vehicle accelerated from 45 mph to 80 mph as it crossed into Douglas County and they pursued it into Indian Hills.

He and Rothschild identified Hernandez as the driver who rammed the SUV into their Washoe tribal cruiser that was stopped on Agate Court.

Collier was out of the vehicle and Rothschild was behind the wheel.

Hernandez fled the scene and was arrested April 29, 2007, in Palm Springs, Calif., on separate charges.

He was returned to Douglas County Jail in January after serving a sentence at California State Prison in Avenal, Calif.

Hernandez is the stepson of Carson City Mayor Marv Teixeira.

Passenger Fidel Fuentes, 25, was accused of tossing a stolen handgun from the car before he and Hernandez fled the scene.

Fuentes was arrested later that day when deputies found him in a back yard in the neighborhood where the altercation took place.

The weapon, reported missing by a Carson City resident, was found on a nearby cul-de-sac.

Fuentes was sentenced in October to a year in Douglas County Jail. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess stolen property, a gross misdemeanor.