Bail reduced in video store embezzlement

An 18-year-old video store employee was charged with felony theft on allegations he embezzled nearly $3,500 in cash and merchandise from the business.

Arthur Barkley was arrested on Monday and held on $25,000 bail.

East Fork Justice Jim EnEarl reduced Barkley's bail to $1,500 cash and set a hearing for June 18.

According to reports, the theft began in February when a Blockbuster customer presented Barkley with a free movie coupon. He kept the coupon and store officials estimate he used it 676 times and pocketed $3,035 cash at $4.50 per movie.

He also is accused of taking $100 in candy and drinks, $150 in videos, an Xbox headset worth $60 and three video games valued at $105.

A 22-year-old Gardnerville Ranchos man is to be released from Douglas County Jail on Sunday, 24 hours before he is to be deployed to Iraq for the third time.

Jose Guerra originally was charged with battery and resisting a public officer after he reportedly battered a couple and wrestled with the deputy who arrested him. The charge was amended to disorderly conduct and Guerra was sentenced to seven days in jail.

He reportedly led deputies on a chase through the Gardnerville Ranchos greenbelt after a couple said he battered them at a convenience store at 7 a.m. Sunday.

The man and woman said they met Guerra the night before and ran into him at the 7-Eleven at Langley and Kimmerling. They said he was very combative and yelled at them about not serving in the armed forces.

He reportedly grabbed the woman and tried to punch the man and threatened to kill him before shoving him to the ground.

"He told me he didn't care what I'd done," Guerra told East Fork Justice Jim EnEarl on Wednesday.

"I told him I lost 13 close friends in combat," he said.

When deputies arrived, he took off on foot through the greenbelt area. Deputies found him hiding in the back yard of a residence in the 1300 block of Kimmerling.

Deputies said he was very combative and told them he had served in Iraq and had been blown up 37 times by improvised explosive devices. He reportedly told deputies he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Guerra said Wednesday he'd been drinking for 10 hours before the incident.

EnEarl said he appreciated Guerra's service, but the defendant didn't have the right to resist arrest or fight with people who disagree with him.

"They're entitled to their opinions and to voice them without meeting violence," EnEarl said. "That's what you're fighting for.

"You don't have the right to come back to this country, get drunk then fight with the sheriff's deputies doing their best to protect us."

Probation was revoked Wednesday for David Gomez, 26, who tested positive for methamphetamine.

Gomez was placed on probation May 28 and ordered to abstain from drugs and alcohol.

He was arrested April 21 when he tried to run from deputies who pulled him over for a traffic stop. He was captured when he tripped over sagebrush, according to reports.

He pleaded guilty to obstructing a public officer, a misdemeanor.

EnEarl revoked his probation and ordered Gomez to serve six months in Douglas County Jail.

Chief Probation Officer Doug Swalm said Gomez tested negative the first few times, but was positive for methamphetamine on Sunday.

Gomez asked to be considered for in-patient substance abuse treatment.

"There was a time in his life when he enjoyed using crank," EnEarl said. "I think he's about fed up with it now."

In March 2006, Gomez was sentenced to up to four years in prison for selling methamphetamine.

His prior convictions for drug and alcohol offenses include two felonies and being kicked out of Western Regional Drug Court.

He and his family lost their Bodie Flats home to a fire on April 28.

A six-month jail sentence was suspended Wednesday for a 43-year-old Johnson Lane woman who pleaded guilty to contributory neglect of a child.

The charge was reduced from child neglect.

Deputies reportedly found Rebeka Haelsig passed out at her Johnson Lane home, leaving her 5-year-old unattended. They were called to the residence by Haelsig's husband.

She was convicted of a similar offense when the child was 22 months old.

East Fork Justice Jim EnEarl ordered Haelsig to abstain from alcohol and drugs for a year. She is subject to random testing for the presence of controlled substances that are not prescribed and must attend counseling.

"This stems from alcohol abuse," he said. "Am I setting you up for failure? You can't go for 12 months without drinking."

Haelsig said she had stopped drinking before and blamed her relapse on "bad associations."

EnEarl rejected her excuse.

"Nobody held you down and poured that alcohol down your throat," he said.

He placed her under the supervision of the Department of Alternative Sentencing.