A district court judge yesterday refused to lower Cooper Street Pier manager Sohan Shrestha’s $25,000 bond. Shrestha is accused of attacking one of his employees in the basement of the bar after-hours.
Prosecutor Tony Hershey said he had prepared to argue for increasing Shrestha’s bond, to protect the alleged victim.
“The victim is not here because she is afraid to be here,” Hershey told Judge James Boyd. “She is afraid of the defendant and she implores you, your honor, to leave bond as set.”
Judge Boyd agreed to keep the bond in place, saying Shrestha, who is from Nepal, had ample motivation to flee the district.
“The allegations in this case are very serious,” he said. “The potential penalties the defendant faces are extremely serious.”
Shrestha, 36, is charged with sexual assault, which carries a possible life term in prison and a fine up to $750,000. He is additionally facing misdemeanor charges of false imprisonment and harassment.
The alleged victim told authorities that Shrestha threw her down and groped her after removing a cast from her broken arm in the early morning hours of Aug. 20.
Addressing concerns about Shrestha’s citizenship status, public defender Steve McCrohan said the accused rapist is in the process of getting a green card and is married to a U.S. citizen.
He is next due in court for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 6.
Also in district court Monday:
— A 23-year-old man charged with dealing heroin in Aspen faced a judge for the first time yesterday. Gregory Elston appeared with his parents and Denver-based attorney Saskia Jordan.
Judge Boyd agreed to drop Elston’s $20,000 bond and turn him over to his mother and father, who agreed to sign his newly issued personal recognizance bond.
Elston surrendered to authorities on Thursday morning, three days after the Aspen Police Department issued a warrant for his arrest for distribution of heroin and possession of cocaine. He posted the $20,000 cash bond that day.
— The former coordinator of the city of Aspen’s car sharing program pleaded guilty to stealing from its funds. Paul Erich Grueter pleaded guilty to theft-in-a-series for transferring money from the city’s coffers into his personal bank account between March and July of this year.
Grueter will be sentenced Nov. 17.
— Jesse James Coleman, 24, pleaded guilty to assaulting another man over a game of poker and driving drunk while free on bail.
In May, Coleman accused the victim of cheating him in a card game and, in the ensuing fight, the man broke his ankle. Then around 8 a.m. on July 29, while he was out on bond, Coleman was stopped by police and failed a roadside sobriety test.
Judge Boyd sentenced Coleman to 120 days in jail — with credit for 70 days he has already served — and to 48 hours of community service.
— Alleged scam artist Peter Frommer was expected to plead guilty to fraud-related charges Monday, but the plea was delayed. Part of his agreement with the district attorney’s office is that he pay back everyone he allegedly defrauded before Oct. 1, which he did not do.
Prosecutor Tony Hershey pointed out that Frommer has not paid off a debt he still owes to U.S. Bank.
Frommer is charged with more than 30 fraud-related felonies. He will be back in court on Nov. 3.
— Robert Feeley pleaded guilty to a cocaine charge stemming from his August arrest for snorting the drug in an alley behind the Caribou Club. Feeley will be sentenced on Nov. 17 for possessing less than 1 gram of cocaine.
andrew@aspendailynews.com
