Bail bondsman, associate get 90 days
A Las Vegas bail bondsman and his employee on Wednesday were sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years' probation after pleading guilty in March to victimizing three people while hunting bail jumpers in 2007.
Robert Suckoll, 39, and Diego Rodriguez, 25, pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon and performing an act in reckless disregard of persons resulting in substantial bodily harm, both felonies; and conspiracy to commit a crime, a gross misdemeanor.
Both men were taken into custody at the end of the sentencing hearing.
According to the terms of the sentence handed down by District Judge Doug Smith, both men owe about $1,400 in restitution, they must take impulse control classes, stay away from weapons, drugs and alcohol, and have no contact with the victims or each other.
Prosecutors, who did not recommend jail time as part of the guilty plea agreement, had asked the judge to order Suckoll to surrender his bail bonds license, but Smith denied that request.
Defense attorneys are expected to ask Smith to reconsider the jail sentence at a hearing scheduled for Aug. 30.
The first incident occurred Jan. 25, 2007, at the Green Door, a Las Vegas swingers club. According to court records, Suckoll and Rodriguez had gone to the club to apprehend a bail jumper. A fight broke out, and when club maintenance manager Arthur Dias protested Rodriguez blasted him with a bean-bag firing shotgun. Dias told authorities he suffered severe injuries.
On May 21, 2007, James Landerso and Fredesminda "Mindy" Solomon awoke at night to find Suckoll and Rodriguez standing over their bed, pointing shotguns at them and demanding to know where to find a man they didn't even know, according to court records. They said Suckoll and Rodriguez broke down their front door and tore apart their apartment in the 6200 block of Flamingo Road in looking for the man.
Landerso and Solomon, who have filed a civil lawsuit against Suckoll and Rodriguez, testified at the sentencing hearing Wednesday.
Suckoll is no stranger to controversy. In 2005, he and two other men were arrested in El Salvador and charged with kidnapping when they tried to bring a bail jumper back to Las Vegas to face child molestation charges. The kidnaping charges were later dropped.
A year later Suckoll's former business partner, Tim Deam, was charged with trying to hire someone to kill Suckoll. Deam was arrested and pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit battery with substantial bodily harm.
Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@
reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.
