Voice of the Mid-Columbia | Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Wash. |
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closeWednesday, Jul. 01, 2009
Pasco men plead innocent to shooting at rolled car
By Kristin M. Kraemer, Herald staff writer
PASCO -- Two Pasco men pleaded innocent Tuesday to allegations they fired upon a rolled car because the occupants had earlier taken their money and marijuana.
Travis Billy Maki, 21, and Rusbel Saenz Jr., 20, both face Aug. 19 trials in Franklin County Superior Court on one count of drive-by shooting.
According to court documents, Pasco police Officer Macario Chavez was on patrol at 1 a.m. June 20 when he first noticed a white pickup "driving at a high rate of speed" north on Fourth Street. Chavez tried to stop the truck but was unable to catch up to it.
He watched the truck drive off "in a reckless manner" and take the westbound onramp for Interstate 182, documents said.
Chavez reportedly got to the ramp to find a car rolled over on the side of the road and the pickup stopped next to it. A man, later identified as Maki, was seen running back to the truck with something in his hands that Chavez suspected was a gun, court documents said.
The truck started to leave the scene, so Chavez activated his flashing lights and quickly stopped it. Maki was driving the truck and Saenz was the passenger.
Asked about bullet holes in the rolled car, Maki claimed the occupants had robbed him and when he followed they began shooting at him, court documents said. Maki said his passenger then opened fire on the car, while Saenz said Maki was doing the shooting, documents said.
Once the car rolled, Maki said "he ran to it and retrieved his marijuana and money and he was leaving when I stopped him," Chavez wrote in court documents. "He apologized for driving in such a crazy manner."
Saenz, in a separate interview, reportedly said he took the gun from Maki and left it on the ground near the rolled car. A gun was found near the car.
College Place man, 29, accused of stealing fuel cards, then selling gas
A 29-year-old College Place man is being held on $25,000 bail on charges he stole fuel cards from an employer and charged up more than $20,000 just to turn around and sell large amounts of gasoline.
Jason Charles Taylor pleaded innocent to two counts of first-degree identity theft and one count of second-degree theft.
Taylor also has pending cases in Benton County Superior Court for identity theft, theft and forgery.
In Franklin County, prosecutors allege Taylor rented a trailer from Rowand Machinery for one day in March 2008 but refused to return it despite numerous extensions. He eventually took the trailer back but didn't return the load ramps, which were rented out with the trailer and are valued at $600, court documents said.
Then the manager of Harms-Pacific Transport reported April 4, 2008, that two fuel cards had been used without authorization. The cards were used in Franklin County and Milton-Freewater, Ore.
Eight months later, Kennewick Detective Rick Runge got word from an informant in the Benton County jail that Taylor had a number of fuel cards, including the ones stolen from Harms-Pacific, court documents said.
Taylor allegedly used to work at Harms-Pacific.
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