Dersch faces sentence as habitual criminal

Bill Gang

Thursday, Dec. 18, 1997 | 11:14 a.m.

Andrew Dersch, the admitted casino coin thief whose roughing up during a 1995 arrest led to the conviction of three Metro Police officers, has pleaded guilty to a burglary count -- his second felony.

Dersch may be facing a minimum five-year prison sentence if Deputy District Attorney Bill Hehn is successful in having District Judge Donald Mosley declare the defendant a habitual criminal.

Hehn said Wednesday's plea bargain includes an agreement by Dersch to plead guilty next week to another burglary charge, but the prosecutor said he will only seek one five-to-20-year habitual criminal sentence for the 32-year-old repeat offender.

Dersch has been convicted of nine theft-related misdemeanors and one count of attempted burglary after he was caught in another casino coin theft. On that conviction, he received a five-year sentence but was paroled in less than a year.

Only three prior misdemeanor convictions for theft-related crimes are necessary to justify having a person declared a habitual criminal, Hehn said.

In the case in Mosley's courtroom, Dersch admitted going into the Four Queens hotel-casino on Oct. 3 with the intent to steal.

Hehn said that Dersch threw a few coins on the floor to distract a 70-year-old man while he lifted the victim's coin cup. The incident was seen by casino security guards who chased and eventually nabbed Dersch.

In the process, Dersch knocked a 70-year-old woman off of her stool and into the path of his pursuers. In addition to burglary, Dersch originally was charged with robbery of a victim over 65 and battery on a person over 65, although those counts will be dropped because of the plea bargain.

Dersch will be sentenced Jan. 20. If Mosley does not declare him to be a habitual criminal, he still faces a prison term of one to 10 years.

Dersch was detained by security guards at the Fremont hotel-casino after a June 1995 coin theft was caught on security cameras. When he failed to give his true name to three Metro bicycle officers, he was slugged in the chest by Officer Robert Phelan and thrown onto a desk where his head was split open.

A second officer, Brian Nicholson, can be heard on a videotape in the security office threatening Dersch.

Sgt. James Campbell, according to testimony at the trio's trial on oppression charges, sought to have the incriminating tape destroyed.

The three were convicted of felony charges of oppression at the trial, but District Judge Lee Gates threw out the conviction because of juror misconduct.

Campbell and Nicholson pleaded guilty in September to gross misdemeanor conspiracy counts and Phelan pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors.

Gates sentenced them to jail time, but the Nevada Supreme Court released them on house arrest pending their appeal early next year.