High bail for identity theft suspect

A 24-year-old Carson City man was jailed on $110,000 bail Monday accused of identity theft and possession of a document for false identification.

According to documents filed in East Fork Justice Court, Giovanni Mena said he had been using the identity of a Mexican man for six years.

Mena, calling himself Jose Caldera-Avila, was employed as a contractor by Monterey Development Group at the Montaña project north of Genoa.

He had used Caldera-Avila's 1975 birthdate and obtained a Social Security number and Nevada driver's license.

Caldera-Avila reportedly lives in Mexico.

The suspect said he opened bank accounts, purchased at least one vehicle and registered vehicles using Caldera-Avila's personal information.

He also reportedly fraudulently obtained a permanent resident alien card to gain his current employment on Jan. 10.

Mena has one prior contact with East Fork Justice Court for minor consuming in 2001.

He was arrested Monday on the current felonies after an investigation by the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.

-- A physician's assistant and former Fallon paramedic was arrested March 22 on two counts of obtaining controlled substances by fraud.

Jeffrey Brian Grant, 39, is to appear in East Fork Justice Court on April 11 on two felony charges.

He was jailed on $25,000 bail at his arrest Thursday but has been released on his own recognizance.

According to the criminal complaint, Grant, who now lives in Gardnerville, obtained 17 fraudulent prescriptions from four pharmacies between May and August, 2006, for hundreds of tablets of the pain relievers oxycodone and hydrocodone.

An investigation began last summer after a physician at Banner Churchill Community Hospital was notified by a drug company of possible drug abuse by a patient who allegedly was Grant.

The suspect reportedly made out prescriptions to himself and forged the doctor's signature.

The doctor said Grant was not a patient and had been fired from the hospital after an altercation with another physician, according to court documents.

Multiple prescriptions were obtained from pharmacies at Wal-Mart in north Douglas County and Scolari's in Gardnerville.

Grant said in court Monday that he was not addicted to the drugs and had last used in July 2006.

He was released on house arrest and is forbidden to use drugs or alcohol. He also must notify the Department of Adult Supervision if he is taking any prescribed medication.

-- A 23-year-old Carson City man pleaded guilty Monday to battery and resisting a public officer after he knocked the manager of the Arby's in Minden to the ground when she found him passed out behind the restaurant.

William Alex Vereschagin was arrested Sunday after he led deputies on a foot chase and fought with officers.

Vereschagin, who has generated nine cases in East Fork Justice Court since 2002, waived his right to an attorney. He told the judge he had moved to Fallon and had three children and was engaged to be married.

He said he was drunk and couldn't remember much of what happened.

The sentencing was delayed until Friday to allow the victim to have input.

In her report to deputies, the woman said she and another employee were checking the restaurant and found Vereschagin passed out behind the rear business door.

She woke him and he reportedly cursed and yelled at her and threw her to the ground. She had a torn shirt and bloody scrapes on her arm.

The woman called deputies and the suspect took off across a field west of the restaurant and ran across Highway 395. Deputies found him hiding in a fenced-in storage area in an alley behind Minden Plaza.

Vereschagin apologized Monday and said he had been sober for two years. He said he never should have come back to Carson Valley and didn't know why he did.

-- A 59-year-old Smith woman has an April 9 date in East Fork Justice Court to explain why she repeatedly dialed 911 to complain about a service dog that was in Wal-Mart with the store's permission.

The woman was cited for abuse of 911.

She reportedly dialed 911 three times on Saturday after emergency dispatch gave her an alternative telephone number and told her to quit calling.

The woman said she originally called to report a Guide Dog was inside Wal-Mart and felt it was unsanitary.

She called again after she was advised it was store policy to permit Guide Dogs and dogs in training in Wal-Mart.

The next time she called 911, the dispatcher gave her a number for the county health department, but the woman was unsatisfied.

A deputy caught up with her in the parking lot and said the woman was upset and couldn't believe the deputy was not going to arrest the dog owner.

Instead, the deputy gave her a citation and advised her she would be taken to jail if she refused to sign it.

The offense is a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in Douglas County Jail and a $2,000 fine.