Cocaine trafficker gets prison

A 24-year-old Gardnerville man was sentenced Tuesday to four years in Nevada State Prison for trafficking in cocaine.

District Judge Dave Gamble told Mickey Demartini he must serve 12 months before he is eligible for parole.

Demartini apologized for addicts he enabled while selling drugs.

"My arrest was a blessing in disguise," he said. "I want to apologize to my family and to the community. I'm not going to live a life controlled by my sinful nature anymore."

Gamble said he appreciated Demartini's turnaround, but cautioned the two-time felon not to be cocky.

"All the things you said are good. The problem is they were all said with a jail jumpsuit on. It's very easy to have these plans when you can't do anything else," Gamble said.

He told Demartini that when he gets out of prison, he will be facing temptations he needs to run from.

He also told Demartini that the prison system had eliminated several programs which treated inmates for drug and alcohol abuse.

"This time in prison, you will have to do this on your own," Gamble said.

Demartini said he hoped to participate in a Christian-based substance abuse treatment program upon release.

Demartini was accused of selling one-quarter to one-half ounce of cocaine on three occasions to undercover officers.

He pleaded guilty to trafficking in a controlled substance.

-- A 46-year-old Topaz Ranch Estates woman who fired a .22-caliber handgun at her husband's girlfriend and two young children was sentenced Tuesday to 45 days in Douglas County Jail to ingrain "a sense of fault" for her jealous rage.

The victims were in a car and uninjured, but their mother said the girls continued to be traumatized by the Dec. 12 incident.

District Judge Dave Gamble sentenced Becky Kolesar to three years probation for discharging a firearm where a person may be endangered, a gross misdemeanor.

Kolesar said she was "tragically sorry" for firing the gun.

She apologized to the victim and her children.

"I didn't know anybody else was in the vehicle. I just wanted to warn her to leave," Kolesar said. "I am deeply remorseful."

Gamble ordered Kolesar to have no contact with the victim or her children.

"I don't have any emotion toward them. I want to get my life on track," she said.

The incident occurred when the victim showed up at Kolesar's home with court papers for her husband.

The victim said Kolesar ran out of the house, screamed obscenities at her as she told her to leave and fired the gun.

"It was really traumatic," she said. "Put yourself in my shoes. I had two little girls in the car. What would have happened if she'd hit one of my kids? You can't bring back a life."

Kolesar said she intended to divorce her husband, but she didn't have the money.

Gamble said even if her husband was involved with the victim, Kolesar was the only one who committed a crime.

"I don't hear you say you recognize the difference between a right reaction and your absolutely bizarrely wrong reaction. Whatever conniving you think was going on, none of this is justification to shoot a gun," Gamble said.

He ordered Kolesar to abstain from drugs and alcohol. She is subject to random search and seizure for controlled substances and weapons.

Gamble also ordered Kolesar to undergo mental health screening and treatment as well as anger management classes.

-- A Stateline man admitted Tuesday that he struck a sleeping man with a painter's extension rod with such force that he caused permanent hearing loss in the victim.

Reo Joseph Boren, 44, pleaded guilty to battery causing substantial bodily harm after the Feb. 3 incident.

He faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine at his sentencing April 17.

"I'm ashamed of what I did," Boren told District Judge Dave Gamble.

Boren's lawyer, Tod Young, said his client was invited to a party where he didn't know anyone, slipped on the ice and was taken to the hospital by paramedics for treatment which included staples in the back of his head.

Boren returned to the party early in the morning and struck two sleeping residents with a painter's rod he had in his truck.

One man suffered permanent hearing loss and the second has bruised ribs.

Young said his client had been drinking and doesn't remember much of what happened.

"He went to the hospital and back to the house under the belief that he'd been attacked, not that he fell," Young said.

Gamble refused to lower Boren's $25,000 bail or release him on his own recognizance after prosecutor Kris Brown detailed his criminal history.

It includes numerous misdemeanors, battery convictions and four active warrants from Carson City and California.

-- A 23-year-old Bay area man admitted Monday that he was trying to enroll at Douglas High School with a passport altered to show his age as 17.

Bradley Coushman pleaded guilty to attempted possession of a document to establish false identification.

He faces up to four years in Nevada State Prison and a $5,000 fine at his sentencing April 23. If the crime is treated as a gross misdemeanor the punishment would be one year in Douglas County Jail and a $2,000 fine.

Coushman was arrested Sept. 11, 2006, on the high school campus after he tried to enroll.

"This sounds kind of bizarre on the face of it," said District Judge Michael Gibbons. "If you were trying to get in a situation in which you have contact with minors for ulterior motives, I certainly hope that's not the case."

"It has more to do with the fact that Mr. Coushman is kind of an outsider and is very lonely. He had a horrible experience in high school and thought if he could go back and do it again, he could do it better, he would be cool because he is a little older," lawyer Tod Young said of his client.

"This is about a guy who hasn't figured out how to deal with his loneliness," Young said.

Coushman has a prior felony conviction for burglary, according to court documents.