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MURRAY — A man accused of helping his friend elude arrest after the friend allegedly shot and killed a Millard County sheriff's deputy has been denied parole.
Ruben Chavez-Reyes, 37, could have been released as early as July on the charges of obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, plus burglary of a building and tampering with evidence, third-degree felonies, that sent him to prison.
Instead, he will remain in custody at least until another review hearing slated for January 2017.
I believe in justice. I believe you got to pay with something and I'm willing to do it.
–Ruben Chavez-Reyes
The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole listed its rationale for the decision saying, among other things, that Chavez-Reyes denied and minimized his actions following the shooting of deputy Josie Greathouse Fox on Jan. 5, 2010.
Chavez-Reyes is adamant that he picked up Roberto Miramontes Roman — the man accused of shooting Fox — later that morning only because his friend had crashed into a snow bank and said he needed a ride to a doctor's appointment.
"I never been stopped by the police," he said at a May 24 hearing before parole board member Robert Yeates. "I never elude or run away from the cops. When I found my friend, Roberto Roman Miramontes, it was in a wreck in Nephi."
The man said he didn't see any weapons, including the AK-47 that Roman reportedly used to shoot Fox, even though Roman would have had to move them between vehicles and detectives deduced they were most likely thrown from the vehicle.
"That's the main point. I didn't see him with the weapons," Chavez-Reyes said.
"I have a hard time believing that because your co-defendant said you told him to throw the weapons out the window," Yeates said. "How could someone throw the weapons out the window and you not notice it?"
Chavez-Reyes said it wasn't until the pair landed in Salt Lake City, just outside of a SWAT situation, when Roman told him that he "broke loose a cop."
"At that time I told myself the Cadillac is under my name. It's my car. I just helped this guy get away from the cops, that's the way they're looking at it," he said.
How could someone throw the weapons out the window and you not notice it?
–Robert Yeates, parole board
While the two men were in Salt Lake, they tried to hire a driver to take them to Los Angeles but lacked the money. They paid to go as far as Beaver, where they ended up hiding in a shed in a mobile home park where a friend of Roman's lives. A resident discovered them in the shed the next morning and called police. They were apprehended without incident.
Chavez-Reyes said he didn't destroy his cell phone while the men were on the run to keep from being tracked, but to protect his family and friends — a claim Yeates was skeptical of. Chavez-Reyes said he already felt like he'd betrayed everybody, including those in Fillmore who had always treated him well.
"To tell you the truth, I never (expected to be) involved in something like that," Chavez-Reyes said. "I believe in justice. I believe you got to pay with something and I'm willing to do it. Justice has to be served no matter what."
He only asked that Yeates not "be too hard" on him. Yeates said he feels Chavez-Reyes knew more than he let on. And none of his explanations could make up for Fox's death.
"We lost the life of a deputy who was just trying to do her job and that is a tragedy for the state of Utah," Yeates said. "That's a tragedy for the sheriff's department, a tragedy for the family. You can't replace her. This is very serious."
Email:emorgan@ksl.com
