A 21-year-old Vancouver man pleaded guilty in two separate cases Friday in Clark County Superior Court, stemming from a string of crimes involving firearms.
Cocaya S. Thomas pleaded guilty to amended charges in each case — single counts of drive-by shooting and first-degree robbery.
Thomas answered Judge Robert Lewis’ routine questions about whether he understood the court process and the consequences of his pleas with “yeah.”
The judge scheduled sentencing in the cases, as well as a third case, for March 3.
Those cases stem from an alleged series of crimes that began sometime in early August when Thomas met with a 17-year-old boy in a Vancouver parking lot to buy a .380-caliber handgun. Instead, he robbed the teen by threatening him with a gun, according to a probable cause affidavit.
That incident is the basis for the first-degree robbery plea. Thomas faces a standard sentencing range of 87 to 116 months, according to Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu.
Then, on Aug. 12, Thomas went with 17-year-old Raymond E. Mason to rob two 16-year-olds of a designer belt at a residence in the 6300 block of Northeast Hazel Dell Avenue.
The case went to trial, and Thomas was convicted of two counts of first-degree robbery with a firearm enhancement on each and possession of a stolen firearm.
The third case resulted from a reported shooting Aug. 16 in the 5900 block of Hazel Dell Avenue, court records show.
Clark County sheriff’s deputies told by several witnesses that they heard multiple gunshots and saw someone picking up shell casings from the road, according to a probable cause affidavit.
A 45-year-old man said he had asked a motorist who was driving recklessly in the neighborhood to stop. A man associated with the vehicle punched him in the head, knocked him to the ground, grabbed the man’s cellphone and flung it into the road. The assailant was later identified as Thomas, the affidavit says.
A witness told police Thomas fired one shot into the air and five to six shots at a neighbor before running away.
Thomas’ original charges in the cases included attempted second-degree murder. The drive-by shooting charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, Vu said. Thomas faces a standard sentencing range of 67 to 89 months.
