Warrant issued for woman in car theft case
Suspected car thief Tara Contreras did not show up for her court hearing on Thursday, prompting Yuma County Superior Court Judge Roger Nelson to issue a warrant for failure to appear and revoke her $20,000 bond.
In explaining his client’s reason for not appearing, Attorney Jose Padilla, of the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office, informed the court that he had received a message from Contreras saying that she was attending a funeral.
This, however, is not the first time that Padilla has had to explain his client’s absence. In August 2020 Contreras’ presence was waived during a hearing after she told him that three members of her family had tested positive for the coronavirus.
As a result, Judge
Nelson ordered that she was to either appear in person or by telephone for her next court appearance, which was scheduled for for 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 3, 2020.
Contreras was also a noshow at her hearing in February, with Padilla avowing to the court that she had provided him with medical records verifying her illness.
In issuing the bench warrant on Thursday Judge Nelson said that Contreras has not been reporting to pre-trial services, which is in violation of her conditions of release and that she has tested positive for methamphetamine twice.
He set bond on the new warrant at $50,000.
Contreras 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.
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.