A judge Wednesday sentenced a Vancouver man to almost 15 years in prison after the man pleaded guilty, and was found guilty at trial, to a string of robberies and other crimes that occurred in August 2016.
A jury found Cocaya S. Thomas, 21, guilty in June 2017 of two counts of first-degree robbery, each with a sentencing enhancement for use of a weapon, and possession of a stolen firearm.
He pleaded guilty in February to drive-by shooting and to first-degree robbery, stemming from the same string of crimes reviewed at the trial.
According to court records, the robberies started in early August, when Thomas went to meet with a 17-year-old boy in a parking lot at Northeast Highway 99 and 63rd Street.
He was there to purchase a revolver, and during the transaction, Thomas produced another gun and took the revolver without paying.
A few days later, he went with a 17-year-old to rob two 16-year-olds of a designer belt and other items at a home in the 6300 block of Northeast Hazel Dell Avenue.
In the last incident, also a few days later, Thomas fired a gun in the air and toward a neighbor following a dispute.
According to court records, sheriff’s deputies were called to the 5900 block of Northeast Hazel Dell Avenue for a reported shooting. A 45-year-old man told responding deputies he had asked a motorist who was driving recklessly in the neighborhood to stop, then a man associated with the vehicle punched him in the head, knocking him to the ground.
The assailant, later identified as Thomas, grabbed the man’s cellphone and threw it into the roadway. Another witness told police Thomas fired one shot into the air and five to six shots at a neighbor before running away, according to court records.
Clark County Superior Court Judge Robert Lewis accepted the sentencing recommendation worked out between Thomas’ attorneys and the prosecutor’s office, sentencing him to 180 months in custody, followed by 18 months of probation. Thomas has been held at the Clark County Jail since late August 2016, and his time there will count as time served.
