Shooting suspect apprehended
SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man implicated in an armed confrontation with sheriff’s deputies was arrested Tuesday on suite of charges which precipitated the clash.
Steven Michael Gervasi is charged with arson, robbery, aggravated assault, two counts of burglary, three counts of grand theft and unlawful possession of a firearm by virtue of a previous felony conviction. He faces charging enhancements for using a firearm while committing the assault and robbery, according to charging documents.
Gervasi, 25, made an initial appearance in Bonner County Magistrate Court via videoconference with the county jail. Judge Debra Heise sustained Gervasi’s bail at $180,000 and appointed a public defender to represent him, court records show.
The charges stem from a two-day crime spree that culminated in a high-speed chase that crossed from Bonner County into Pend Oreille County, Wash., where Gervasi allegedly opened fire on a deputy’s patrol unit.
The sport utility vehicle was hit several times by gunfire, but Deputy Alex Hughes escaped injury.
Gervasi could be charged in Washington state with attempted first-degree murder, according to Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall.
Locally, Gervasi threatened a Bonner County woman with a pistol and robbed her of a mobile phone or aided and abetted a woman in the commission of those offenses, a criminal complaint alleges. The woman, identified as Jessica Brown in court records, is not in custody and Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository records showed sealed court cases, an indication charges may be pending.
The alleged robbery victim told investigators she was in her car when a window was smashed in on May 8 with a pistol and her phone was snatched and smashed.
The woman further reported that shots were fired at her vehicle as she fled the encounter. Shell casings were recovered at the scene, according to court documents.
The burglary and theft charges arise from break-ins on a home and vehicle on Southside School Road in Cocolalla on May 6. An all-terrain vehicle and trailer were stolen, as was a .40-caliber Beretta semiautomatic pistol, the handgun that was allegedly used in the assault and robbery two days later.
Gervasi is also accused of setting fire to a residence at 912 Curtis Creek Road on May 8. Gervasi and Patrick Allen Geaudreau are accused of leading law enforcement on a pursuit that ended in gunfire in Pend Oreille County’s Spring Valley on May 9.
Geaudreau, 27, was initially identified as the shooter during the pursuit, but the investigation has since pivoted to Gervasi as the person who opened fire.
Geaudreau, meanwhile, is accused of a separate spate of mayhem which also led up to the pursuit. He is charged with kidnapping and attempting to murder his girlfriend on Hoodoo Mountain on May 8. Geaudreau allegedly attacked the woman with brass knuckles, choked her and meant to kill her at that location, but her cries prompted Geaudreau to head down the mountain. The woman fled Geaudreau’s vehicle at Spirit Lake Cutoff and Curtis Creek roads.
Geaudreau was apprehended without incident during a traffic stop on May 25. He denied all of the allegations against him in an interview with Spokane television station KHQ.
Geaudreau waived his right Wednesday to a preliminary hearing and his defense counsel, Deputy Public Defender Susie Jensen, requested a reduction in his $210,00 bail, citing his ties to the community and lack of an extensive prior criminal history. Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank said the bail was apt given the severity of the allegations against Geaudreau.
Judge Justin Julian noted that Geaudreau was already on felony probation for a property crime when the new allegations surfaced.
“They do demonstrate a shocking level of violence,” Julian said of the newer charges.
Unclear is the motive for the attack on the woman in her car, the arson and the nexus, if any, of the charges against Gervasi and Geaudreau.
“We are actively working the case on both sides of the border,” Marshall said. “The relationship between Gervasi and Geaudreau appears to be tangential in nature and Geaudreau is not involved in the shooting, nor in the crimes Gervasi has been charged with today in Bonner County.”