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5 Utahns charged in viral confrontation with Hispanic family will go to trial

5 Utahns charged in viral confrontation with Hispanic family will go to trial

(Jose Caballero, YouTube)


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LOGAN — A former Weber County employee whose confrontation with a Hispanic family in Blacksmith Fork Canyon went viral last year will go to trial, a judge determined this week.

Wyatt Dee Pack, 22, was charged in July 2018 with riot, a third-degree felony, and five misdemeanors — threatening to use a weapon during a fight, theft by extortion, threatening violence, and two counts of assault — after a video of Pack angrily ranting at Jose Caballero and his family spread on social media.

A judge on Wednesday ordered that Pack and four others involved in the incident be bound over for trial, rejecting a motion from the defendants asking to strike the state’s closing arguments after a preliminary hearing in June. The evidence presented in the hearing believably showed that Pack “engaged in tumultuous or violent conduct” and “acted with the intent to, or with reason to believe that his action would, intimidate or terrorize the Caballeros,” Judge Kevin Allen wrote in his decision.

The former county employee’s codefendants are Rikki Hane Durney, 40, of Tremonton, charged with riot; Samara Lee Nielsen, 21, of Harrisville, charged with riot and threatening to use a weapon during a fight; Braxton Jade Haderlie, 23, of North Ogden, charged with riot and threatening to use a weapon during a fight; and Cory Brian Durney, 42, of Tremonton, charged with riot, aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, and criminal mischief, a class A misdemeanor.

Caballero and his family became stranded in the canyon on May 25, 2018, when their truck pulling a camping trailer broke down, blocking an area used to get to a camping area, according to charging documents. Caballero had been trying for most of the day to get help and fix the truck, the charges said.

Cory Durney, along with Rikki Durney and a 17-year-old girl, approached the Caballeros in a truck, accelerating towards them and hitting Caballero’s truck, according to charging documents.

The Durneys and the girl then “started yelling at (Caballero) and using profanity, telling him to get his trailer and truck out of the camp area,” according to the charges. “Jose indicated that he tried to explain that his truck was broken,” the charges said, “but they would not listen and continued to swear at him and threaten him, saying that the people coming next were worse than they were.”

A second truck, pulling a camping trailer and driven by Pack, pulled up about 15 minutes later. Pack “immediately walked over to Jose and was yelling and swearing at him to move his truck and trailer,” according to the charges.

Caballero testified in the preliminary hearing that Pack threatened to burn the family’s belongings and use his gun against Caballero if the family didn’t move their things from the campsite, according to the judge’s decision. Caballero told police that Wyatt’s hand was resting on the gun on his hip during the confrontation, and that one of the women with Cory Durney lifted her shirt and showed him that she also had a handgun, the charges said.

Pack offered to move Caballero’s truck, but only if Caballero gave him $200, according to charging documents.

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”Eventually, Jose felt so threatened by Wyatt and his group that he told his wife in Spanish to gather backpacks, jackets and some food and they were going to leave the camp area and walk down the road towards Blacksmith Fork Canyon,” the charges said. “As they left the camp, Wyatt came at them screaming and asking if Jose was deaf. He then walked up to Jose and grabbed him by his left ear and tried to hit him, but Jose ducked down.”

Pack then said he was going to move Caballero’s truck and demanded he give him all of his money, which was $45, according to charging documents.

During the encounter, Pack and the group with him yelled Spanish words, such as “vamanos,” at the family, the charges state.

Caballero said he was “very scared for his family” throughout the confrontation, according to the charges. Caballero’s wife, who filmed the encounter, “was convinced that Wyatt’s group was going to shoot and kill her husband and oldest son, and she talked about not feeling free to leave because Wyatt’s group had blocked them in.”

At one point in the confrontation, a couple that was driving by the campsite decided to stop and check on Caballero’s wife and son, “who appeared to be in distress,” according to the decision. The woman in the couple said that when her boyfriend tried to help, Pack shoved her boyfriend.

Pack and the group with him began to yell and swear at the couple, threatening to hit them and damage their car unless they left, according to statements from the couple and Caballero referenced in the decision. The woman described the behavior of the group as “very violent.”

A video of the encounter was filmed by Caballero’s wife and posted to YouTube, where it has been viewed more than 340,000 times. Pack was fired from his job with Weber County after the video was posted online.

The next hearing in the case had not been scheduled as of Friday.

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Gretel Kauffman

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