Man charged for shooting at deputy

NEWPORT — A Bonner County man accused of opening fire on a pursing sheriff’s deputy last spring was charged Thursday with attempted second-degree murder.

Steven Michael Gervasi intended to kill Bonner County Sheriff’s Deputy Alex Hughes without premeditation, according to a criminal complaint filed in Pend Oreille County Superior Court.

Gervasi, 25, is being held at the Bonner County Jail on robbery, arson, theft and assault charges, offenses which preceded the armed confrontation in Washington state.

The gunfire erupted on May 9 near the intersection of Tweedie and Spring Valley roads.

Deputies were looking for a wanted man south of Oldtown when they spotted a maroon Jeep Cherokee they believed he was in. Hughes attempted to pull the sport utility vehicle over, but it sped off west down Tweedie Road and reached speeds of up to 85 mph as the pursuit crossed into Pend Oreille County.

Hughes told investigators that the rear window of the fleeing SUV suddenly obliterated and he heard bullets striking his Chevrolet Tahoe patrol rig.

“I thought he was trying to kill me,” Hughes told detectives.

Hughes narrowly missed being struck by the incoming gunfire, according to extensive police reports filed in the case.

The Jeep was found abandoned and mired in mud in a field off Elmers Loop.

Law enforcement originally identified the suspected shooter as Patrick Allen Geaudreau, although his involvement was later ruled out.

Investigators broke the case after Gervasi’s former girlfriend agreed to testify in exchange for immunity from prosecution, court records show.

Jessica Jonae Brown, 29, told investigators she was driving the SUV and had no forewarning that Gervasi would open fire with the .40-caliber Beretta semiautomatic pistol they stole in the earlier burglary.

Brown and Gervasi parted ways during their flight on foot because she was having trouble keeping up with him, according to he police reports. Brown spent the night near a logging operation after falling into a creek. Gervasi — limping, barefoot and without pants — turned up on Old School Road on May 10. Both had minor injuries consistent with bushwhacking through the woods.

Gervasi was arrested for making false statements to law enforcement, but he bonded out of the Pend Oreille County Jail and later re-arrested in a traffic stop in June. Brown was arrested during a May 12 traffic stop, court records indicate.

The stolen Beretta was later found by a landowner on Elmers Loop, court records said.

Gervasi and Brown were also implicated in a series of crimes that led up to the armed confrontation.

The former couple is accused of burglarizing a home and vehicle in Cocolalla on May 6, making off with the Beretta, an all-terrain vehicle and a trailer. Two days later, they set fire to a man’s trailer home in the 900 block of Curtis Creek Road in Spirit Valley.

Upon leaving the scene, however, they discovered a woman was in a parked car on the property and confronted her, court records indicate. Brown said Gervasi smashed in the window with the pistol. Brown said she struck the woman in the face, snatched her mobile phone and tossed it into the burning home. The woman sped off in her Honda sedan and Gervasi allegedly fired on the fleeing vehicle, but the woman was not hit by the gunfire.

Gervasi is charged in Idaho with robbery, arson and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, in addition to two counts of burglary and two counts of grand theft. Gervasi is further charged with unlawfully possessing a weapon due to a previous robbery conviction and faces a 30-year sentencing enhancement for using a handgun during the commission of the robbery and the assault.

Gervasi faces a life sentence in the Pend Oreille County case if convicted as charged.

Brown testified against Gervasi during a June 22 preliminary hearing as part of immunity pact with the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office, court records indicate. Her testimony included witnessing Gervasi firing on deputies in Washington state.

The motive behind the arson is not clear in court records, although investigators suspected it involved an outstanding drug debt. Methamphetamine use is a common thread in the Washington case, court records indicate.

Intravenous drug paraphernalia was found in the abandoned Jeep, court records indicate. Brown testified that she was high on meth when she fled from deputies, according to a preliminary hearing transcript.

Gervasi is a facing meth possession charge in Pend Oreille County and Brown is facing a similar charge in Bonner County, although her offense occurred a month before the crime spree.