A 22-year-old Minden man who admitted he was too drunk to care for two young children he was supposed to be watching while their mother worked received a suspended sentence Wednesday and a lecture from the judge.
Kristopher Grotts pleaded guilty to contributing to the neglect of a child.
He also was sentenced to 22 days in Douglas County Jail for lying to East Fork Judge Jim EnEarl at an earlier court appearance about whether he would test positive for drugs. He was given credit for time served.
"You haven't accepted any responsibility for what you've done," EnEarl said. "You've been sitting here this afternoon fairly glib."
Grotts said the children - a 2-year-old and a 9-year-old - were asleep Jan. 3 when paramedics were called to the 1500 block of County Road at 1:30 a.m. for a report of alcoholic poisoning.
Grotts reportedly told deputies he drank two pints of brandy.
His 50-year-old neighbor, with whom he had been drinking, was unconscious on the floor in a pool of vomit, but she recovered.
Grotts told EnEarl the children were asleep, but their mother said when she returned home from work at 12:20 a.m., they were running around the apartment. The children were unharmed, but she said they seemed scared and hungry.
"Two-year-olds frequently get up in the middle of the night. Nine-year-olds have nightmares. Whatever were you going to do for them?" EnEarl asked Grotts.
He told Grotts he must refrain from drugs and alcohol for a year and is subject to random search and seizure. He told Grotts to grow up and get a job.
Grotts was arrested in August for disorderly conduct after deputies found him passed out in the yard in front of his apartment. He was fined $91.
-- A 27-year-old Carson City man is to appear in District Court on a charge of uttering a forged instrument for his part in a multicounty check-kiting scheme.
Christopher J. Thomas was released on house arrest Wednesday and is to appear before District Judge Dave Gamble on March 13 on the felony charge.
At his arrest Jan. 6, Thomas reportedly told deputies he had cashed checks worth $10,000-$20,000 in two months working with two other men.
He was described as the "pigeon" with the responsibility for cashing the checks.
His co-offenders reportedly printed forged checks listing stolen bank account numbers.
Thomas was arrested after he was videotaped using a stolen credit card at a grocery store. He told deputies his accomplices got bank account numbers by stealing them or buying them.
Thomas said he was using his share to buy methamphetamine.
Prosecutor Kris Brown said she was concerned about releasing Thomas because he had multiple failures to appear on previous cases.
Thomas said he would be living with his mother in Carson City.
"I wasn't acting myself," he said of his prior offenses.
"Yes you were," said East Fork Judge Jim EnEarl who permitted Thomas' release. "You were acting just like a meth addict."
-- A hearing for David Scott Killen, 22, accused of a window-breaking spree, was continued to Feb. 28 to determine what charges he faces in Carson City.
Lawyer Derrick Lopez asked for the delay Wednesday, hoping to work out "a global resolution" for the alleged vandalism.
Killen, in Douglas County Jail on $10,000 cash bail, waived his right to a speedy trial.
The complaint against Killen in Douglas County alleges that he discharged a weapon or aided and abetted Dylan Patrick Gregory, 21, in discharging a weapon by driving a vehicle.
Gregory has not been charged and the Feb. 12 incident is under investigation.
The vandalism spree stretched from Stateline at Lake Tahoe, through Carson City, Minden and Gardnerville. There were no injuries, but damage estimates ran into the thousands of dollars.
More than two dozen windows were shot with a CO2-powered BB gun.
Killen was arrested in Douglas County after a citizen's arrest complaint was filed by a 45-year-old Gardnerville Ranchos woman.
Her driver's side window was shot out while she was stopped at an intersection with her 14-year-old daughter in the minivan.
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