http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/s ... 0000-bond/

Gang affiliation cited in $100,000 bond
By KATE BRASER
Courier & Press staff writer 464-7622 or braserk@courierpress.com
Friday, September 22, 2006

The attorney for a Mexican citizen accused of slashing the tires of an Evansville police car questioned in court on Thursday why his client's bond is set so high.

Paulo Cesar Rios-Solorzano's has a $100,000 cash-only bond for charges of resisting law enforcement, a Class D felony and criminal mischief, a Class B misdemeanor.

"I certainly hope it's not because he is possibly living here illegally or because he is accused of damaging a police car," said Steven Bohleber, Solorzano's attorney.

Rios-Solorzano, 21, of 1319 Hatfield Drive, is accused of slashing the car's tires hours after officers asked Rios-Solorzano and a friend to leave Karanchos Latin Sports Bar on Sunday.

According to a police report, the men were asked to leave the bar because they were making gang signs and threatening another patron in the bar.

After they left, police reportedly noticed their car circling the block, then saw someone moving around a parked police car outside the bar.

Two officers and a security guard ran toward the squad car and saw one of the men slash the tires on the driver's side, then drive away in a bronze Mercury Cougar.

Police radioed a description of the vehicle and the two men to other officers in the area and a search ensued.

An officer driving on Vann Avenue saw a car matching the description near Roberts Stadium without its lights on and began to chase the car through the stadium parking lot.

After the car was surrounded, police say Rios-Solorzano and his friend allegedly continued to resist arrest, and that even after they were taken into custody, Martin Solorzano, the other man in the car, continued to flash gang signs at officers.

Solorzano told police he is a member of a gang from El Salvador.

Rios-Solorzano wore clothes and a bandanna that matched Solorzano's, police said.

During Rios-Solorzano's initial hearing, Bohleber said his bond is set unusually high for a Class D felony.

"One-hundred thousand dollars cash is way out of line," Bohleber told Vanderburgh Superior Court Judge Mary Margaret Lloyd on Thursday. "Normally the bond for charges such as these would be $500."

But prosecutors told Lloyd that Rios-Solorzano's possible gang affiliation, status as a Mexican national and the accusation he slashed a police car's tire mean he poses a high risk for flight.

Lloyd did not respond to either party's arguments other than stating for the record that the bond should remain the same at this time.

Speaking through an interpreter during his hearing, Rios-Solorzano requested the assistance of the Mexican consulate in Indianapolis.

Rios-Solorzano is to appear in court again on Oct. 25.