Man placed on probation for smashing window of local soda shop
Published at
IDAHO FALLS — A Idaho Falls man has been placed on a year of unsupervised probation for the vandalism of a local soda shop.
Gilberto Ahuatzi, 22, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor malicious injury to property Friday after admitting to smashing the window of JB Soda Barn with a skateboard on March 15. Police arrested Ahuatzi in the following weeks after matching him to security camera footage taken from the shop on 1st Street in Idaho Falls.
In addition to the unsupervised probation, Magistrate Judge Steven Gardner ordered Ahuatzi pay $1,485.39 in fees and fines. Gardner gave Ahuatzi 90 days of discretionary jail time with credit for the three days he spent in the Bonneville County Jail. If he violates his probation he will have to serve the jail time.
RELATED: Police searching for vandal after soda barn window is smashed
According to an Idaho Falls Police Department news release, the surveillance camera showed Ahuatzi shattering the window, leaving broken glass and damaging the machinery inside the building.
Police initially arrested Ahuatzi for felony malicious injury to property, booking him into the jail. However, as part of a plea agreement prosecutors reduced the charge to the misdemeanor level.
RELATED: Man arrested for vandalism of JB’s Soda Barn
Ahuatzi is currently in supervised probation in Bingham County for a misdemeanor DUI charge received in August 2018. He is eligible to be released from probation in 2021.
