Veishea arrestees accept plea bargain
July 21, 2004
Two men arrested in the aftermath of the Veishea riot on felony charges will plead guilty to lesser charges, their attorneys said.
Alexander Brokman, sophomore in computer engineering, was scheduled to stand trial Tuesday, but negotiations with the Story County attorney’s office resulted in an agreement for him to plead guilty to a charge of criminal mischief in the third degree, an aggravated misdemeanor, if the charges of criminal mischief in the second degree, a felony, and criminal mischief in the fifth degree, a simple misdemeanor, are dropped.
Brokman submitted a written plea of guilty on Wednesday.
“He’s pled guilty to the charge he’s guilty of,” said Stephen Terrill, Brokman’s attorney. “From the look of the tapes, he did not appear to be guilty of the other two charges.”
The second man, Kevin Patrick Caho, 22, of Port Byron, Ill., was also scheduled for trial Tuesday, but no trial was held as his attorney, Dan Gonnerman, continues to work with the Story County attorney’s office to reduce his charge of criminal mischief in the second degree.
“If we come to a resolution with the state of Iowa, it could be resolved through a guilty plea,” Gonnerman said.
Brokman, 19, was arrested April 29, 11 days after the Campustown riot, when Ames police officers received a tip about the identity of a man in a photo damaging glass at Copyworks, 105 Welch Ave. The same individual appeared in a photo damaging a parking meter, police said.
Caho was arrested May 4 when tips led police to identify him as the person pictured in a video throwing rocks at a sign for Blimpie Subs and Salads, 218 Welch Ave. The sign, police officials said, sustained damage in excess of $2,000. Caho turned himself in and was held on $9,750 bond.
Caho has not yet entered a plea. Sentencing hearings for the twohave not yet been announced.
At least four arrests have resulted from community identification of individuals captured committing criminal acts during the riot.
Charges against Justin Larson, who was shown in an Iowa State Daily photo pushing a flaming Dumpster during the riots, were dismissed after Story County attorneys and the Daily couldn’t reach agreement on the participation of a Daily photographer in a trial.
In early June, Diego Alexander Vega, 21, a former ISU student, turned himself in to the Story County sheriff’s office after he was identified as one of three men in a dashboard camera recording attempting to tip over a Story County patrol car. He was charged with criminal mischief in the second degree and pleaded not guilty. His trial is currently set for Sept. 14.
Ames Police Cmdr. Jim Robinson said tips about the identity of those pictured in the collected footage of the riot had tapered off, and no one had come forward in the last week, to the best of his knowledge.
“I suspect that when the student community returns in fall, there will be more tips,” he said.
Iowa State police have established a Web site housing photos and film clips of the riot at www.dps.iastate.edu/police/crime-alerts.html.