Sentencing is set April 7 for a couple who pleaded guilty Wednesday to theft and battery in connection with an altercation near their property on Stockyard Road in the Pine Nut Mountains.
Leroy Rupert, 67, and Linda Prehoda, 61, were accused of poking a man with a piece of rebar and taking his gear after they came upon him and a friend riding all-terrain vehicles near their property on Stockyard Road on Oct. 24, 2009.
The 75-year-old man said he and a friend were riding ATVs from the Johnson Lane area across the Pine Nut mountains south to Fish Springs.
He said they were riding west on a dirt road and came to a locked gate. They turned around and were riding east when a Jeep came up behind the ATVs.
Prehoda, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft, said the victim "ran me down on an ATV trying to get off the road."
She claimed he threatened her and she believed he had a weapon.
She said she walked up to the man, took his cell phone and helmet and tossed them in a trash fire on their property.
"I said, 'Would you please leave now?'" she told East Fork Justice Pro Tem Paul Gilbert.
Rupert pleaded guilty to battery.
He said he and Prehoda chose to live in the Pine Nuts for tranquility, but "ATV-ers and dirt bikers have turned it into a checkerboard square."
He said the couple spotted the two men along the fenceline.
"I told her to be careful. I could see he was carrying guns. I picked up the rebar on the way up there," Rupert said.
He denied poking the victim, but said he was pleading guilty "to make this thing go away as quickly as possible."
Sentencing was set for April 7 so the victim has a chance to testify.
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