By Simran Chahal
WOODLAND, CA – Bicycles are a big thing in Davis, and while Yolo County Superior Court Judge David Reed denied release of “Bait-Bike” suspect Angelo Rosa, he did decide Monday to reduce bail from $10,000 to $5,000 in the felony grand theft case.
In August of this year, Rosa was charged with “grand theft” of a bicycle outside a liquor store in Davis, CA. He is currently in custody.
The judge noted the request was denied previously, but Deputy Public Defender John Sage argued the previous judge was not the one who heard the preliminary examination and “this was a bait-bike case from Davis.”
PD Sage stated Rosa’s mother “is willing to let him stay with her and she is also willing to bring him to court if necessary.
“So, this was a bait-bike case. He took a bike in Davis at night in front of a liquor store. The bike was unchained. It had a backpack on it with food supplies and toilet paper. It was a crime of opportunity. The officer…specifically said that,” explained Sage.
Sage charged that “they (David police) specifically picked a bike over $950, so it would be charged as a felony.” Anything valued at less than $950 or less would be charged as a misdemeanor.
“Mr. Rosa has a place to stay and he would appear in court as ordered,” argued Sage.
After Sage concluded his deliberation, the judge asked, “[W]as there an SOR (supervised own recognizance) evaluation done earlier?”
The district attorney replied that “there has been a report done before.”
Probation Officer Arthur Arustamyan added, “Mr. Rosa was previously released on SOR in September [of this year]. He failed to comply with the terms of his release, so a warrant had to be issued for his arrest. Based on his noncompliance, probation would not be inclined to recommend” supervised release.
The judge further questioned, “When you stated he failed to comply, do you mean he failed to maintain contact with you?”
Arustamyan replied, “He failed to appear for office visits. Additional attempts were made to contact him, probation attempted to contact him through his mother’s residence. She indicated Rosa did not stay there consistently and possibly stayed in Davis, accessing homeless resources.
“He could not be located, so a warrant was issued at that point,” Arustamyan stated.
PD Sage stated, “Well, (Rosa) was incarcerated, so that was the reason he could not contact the probation department.”
The judge proceeded to ask whether probation was aware of that. Arustamyan replied, “No. If Mr. Sage could provide me the dates of when he was in custody and where, then I could try to verify that.”
PD Sage told the court that his client was incarcerated in mid-October for about a week.
“Well, if he was not in custody on Sept. 15 (this year) then the noncompliance status predates his custody status. So, that’s the case,” argued Arustamyan.
Judge Reed stated that “based on the information I have I would deny the request for SOR release. I would reduce bail to $5,000 from the $10,000 we set at the preliminary hearing.”
The next hearing date is Dec. 2 for an early disposition conference.
