That’s Not My Car?

(GERING, Neb.) — A 30-year-old Denver man was bound over to Scotts Bluff County District Court on Oct. 14 to face a felony drug possession charge following an encounter in a Gering gas station parking lot, court records show.

Gabriel Alfredo Hutchins Rosales was bound over after a preliminary hearing in Scotts Bluff County Court before Judge Kristen D. Mickey. He is charged with possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, law enforcement was alerted to Rosales on the evening of Oct. 4 after an off-duty dispatcher reported a suspicious individual at the Pony Express Station on Kimball Avenue in Gering. A vehicle registration check through the National Crime Information Center revealed that the vehicle Rosales was operating had been reported stolen in Montana.

When an officer arrived and pulled in behind the parked vehicle, Rosales backed up and struck the patrol car. Neither vehicle sustained damage, according to court documents.

During questioning, Rosales said he was homeless and believed he owned the vehicle. He stated that he had recently recovered it but had not notified law enforcement. However, dispatch records indicated that the vehicle belonged to a Montana resident and had been reported stolen by another individual.

A search of the vehicle turned up a corner of a plastic bag containing white crystalline residue that tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine, a clear glass smoking pipe with residue, a plastic syringe containing liquid and an open can of malt liquor, according to the affidavit.

During the Oct. 14 preliminary hearing, charges of receiving stolen property valued at $501 to $1,499, possession of an open alcohol container and possession of drug paraphernalia were dismissed without prejudice at the prosecutor’s request.

Rosales appeared by video and was bound over for arraignment in Scotts Bluff County District Court, scheduled for Friday, Oct. 23, at 1 p.m.