Hearing in stolen car case is continued due to COVID
Thursday’s hearing in Yuma County Superior Court for the woman charged in connection to stealing a car from an individual who had recently died was continued for two weeks due to her having contracted the coronavirus.
In asking for a continuance, attorney Attorney Jose Padilla, who represents Tara Contreras, said his client is sick and was unable to attend the hearing.
Padilla, who is with the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office, added that a settlement conference in the case has also had to be rescheduled due to her illness.
When asked for its position on the matter, the prosecution asked that the court issue an order to show cause ruling requiring Contreras to prove she had contracted the coronavirus.
Judge Nelson, however, declined to do so after Padilla avowed to the court that Contreras had provided him with her medical records and that several of her family members had also contracted it over the past few weeks.
Contreras’ next court appearance has been scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on March 11.
Contreras, who is out of custody on a $20,000 bond, has been charged with one felony count of theft of means of transportation.
She was also on probation at the time she allegedly committed the offense and has six previous misdemeanor convictions on her record. She has also failed to appear at her court hearings in the past.
According to the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office, on April 10, 202, at approximately 5:24 p.m., deputies received a report of a burglary and vehicle theft on 8th Street.
The owner of the residence had recently died and the caretaker was advised of unknown subjects on the property. When deputies arrived, they discovered that the residence had been ransacked and that a vehicle, described as a grayish Dodge Journey was missing. Deputies later discovered that the stolen vehicle had possibly been taken into Mexico. Further investigation revealed that Contreras had been in possession of the vehicle when it entered Mexico.
The vehicle has yet to be recovered.
Contreras was located by the Yuma Police Department at approximately 11:33 a.m. the following day in the 5700 block of West 8th Street, where she was later taken into custody without incident by deputies from the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office.
She was found in a motel with another individual who was being sought by the YPD on an unrelated incident.