Sex offender pleads guilty again
After withdrawing a guilty plea last month, a Cortez man has again pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault.
Zamir Young, 23, withdrew his initial plea after prosecutors announced the victim was reluctant to testify. He re-entered his guilty plea this week. Sentencing was set for June 12.
Under the deferred judgment plea deal, Young is likely to be placed on five years of probation. He’ll be required to register as a convicted sex offender.
Young was arrested after he allegedly raped a woman in a field next to the Calkins Building last August. The victim told police she was shoved to the ground, placed in a choke hold and then forcibly raped after drinking with the suspect at a local bar on the night in question.
Armed man takes a beating, pleads guilty
Beaten up after he pulled a gun, a 28-year-old Cortez man has agreed to a plea deal.
In a deferred judgment plea deal, Daniel Holley pleaded guilty to felony menacing as an act of domestic violence this week. Sentencing was set for June 12.
The alleged victim, a 23-year-old Mancos man, escaped any known injuries after he reportedly punched Holley in self-defense. Police said the defendant, armed with a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol, suffered a black eye and bloody nose after holding the victim at gunpoint last August.
Man in drug case is sentenced
Dennis Whatcott, 48, was sentenced to drug court this week after serving 112 days in jail.
The defendant was ordered to 90 days in jail with credit for time served after pleading guilty to drug possession. He was also ordered to outpatient treatment and 60 hours of community service while on 24 months of supervised probation.
Released following a traffic stop last December, Whatcott reportedly confessed to Montezuma County Sheriff Dennis Spruell the next day that drugs found inside a friend’s towed vehicle belonged to him.
Court records reveal the vehicle was impounded after authorities suspected that drugs were inside. Officers later discovered .65 grams of meth and .45 grams of marijuana inside the vehicle.
Newlywed enters plea in domestic violence
Within a month of being married, a New Mexico man admitted to threatening to kill his new wife with a pair of scissors.
Louie Gonzales, 56, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment as an act of domestic violence this week. He’ll be sentenced on June 12.
Court records reveal the defendant held his wife down and threatened to kill her inside a Mancos motel last December.
At sentencing, Gonzales is likely to be placed on two years of probation and ordered to domestic violence treatment.
Fugitive from Oregon is out on bond
An Oregon man was granted a $2,500 bond this week following his arrest in January.
The court ordered John Erickson, 53, not to leave the state if able to post the bond. A revocation hearing in connection to a 2012 trespassing and assault conviction was set for April 23.
A bench warrant for Erickson’s arrest was issued in June 2014 after he failed to appear for a probation violation. According to court records, the probation violation includes $650 in outstanding fines and failure to complete domestic violence treatment.
The initial charge stems from a 2011 New Year’s Eve domestic violence incident in Mancos. The victim, an ex-girlfriend of the defendant, reportedly suffered a black eye.
Test forgery likely to go to drug court
A Mancos man convicted of forging drug test results is likely to be sentenced to drug court after violating his probation.
Kenny Velasquez, 32, opted to represent himself at a revocation hearing this week. Court records reveal he failed and missed multiple drug tests.
At sentencing on April 23, Velasquez is likely to have an 18-month deferred judgment for a March 2014 forgery conviction revoked, and then be sentenced to drug court following a one-year in-patient drug treatment program.
The forgery conviction stems from an altered drug test report in October 2013.
Joyrider sentenced to drug court
A Cortez woman was accepted into drug court after serving 106 days in jail after she failed to appear for sentencing last December.
Tonya Chavez, 22, was granted a deferred judgment after pleading guilty to aggravated motor vehicle theft last fall. Sentenced to probation for 24 months, she was ordered to outpatient drug treatment, random drug testing and 60 hours of community service.
Last fall, Chavez confessed to stealing a vehicle from an East Downey Street resident in 2013. Under the initial plea agreement, Chavez was expected to receive 18 months in jail and one year of parole.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com
