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Shepherd man pleads guilty on five criminal charges
By ALEX WUKMAN
Taylor Hopkins, 18, was indicted and pleaded guilty to five charges stemming from a bizarre night of destruction. In October of this year, Hopkins took someone’s truck without asking and drove through a gas meter across Loop 424 from the Pct. 2 Annex.
The resulting natural gas leak required firefighters from the Shepherd Volunteer Fire Department and deputies from the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office to control traffic and prevent the gas from catching fire. While the gas company was working to repair the leak, Hopkins returned to the scene.
He sped through the area, hit a fire truck and spun it approximately 180 degrees. The truck also hit a Shepherd firefighter. A second firefighter suffered a sprained ankle as he tried to leap out of harm’s way.
Sheriff’s deputies pursued Hopkins into the Lake-Run-Amuck subdivision where he lost control of the vehicle on Betty Street. As the deputies were arresting him, Hopkins resisted; he also is said to have resisted them transporting him to jail.
According to San Jacinto County Criminal District Attorney Bill Burnett, Hopkins’ resistance was so severe that the deputies had to stop on the way back to the jail to more thoroughly secure him. Hopkins was indicted on Nov. 24 on one count each of Aggravated Assault of a Public Servant, Aggravated Assault of a Fireman, Aggravated Assault with a deadly weapon, Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle and Evading Arrest.
All of the Aggravated Assault charges are First Degree Felonies; the Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle and the Evading Arrest charges are both State Jail Felonies. At Hopkins’ first court appearance on December 1, he pleaded guilty to all five charges.
In exchange for entering a guilty plea, Hopkins received three 10-year sentences for all the assault offenses and two 2-year sentences on the State Jail Felonies.
“He will serve them concurrently, not consecutively,” said Burnett.
The resulting natural gas leak required firefighters from the Shepherd Volunteer Fire Department and deputies from the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office to control traffic and prevent the gas from catching fire. While the gas company was working to repair the leak, Hopkins returned to the scene.
He sped through the area, hit a fire truck and spun it approximately 180 degrees. The truck also hit a Shepherd firefighter. A second firefighter suffered a sprained ankle as he tried to leap out of harm’s way.
Sheriff’s deputies pursued Hopkins into the Lake-Run-Amuck subdivision where he lost control of the vehicle on Betty Street. As the deputies were arresting him, Hopkins resisted; he also is said to have resisted them transporting him to jail.
According to San Jacinto County Criminal District Attorney Bill Burnett, Hopkins’ resistance was so severe that the deputies had to stop on the way back to the jail to more thoroughly secure him. Hopkins was indicted on Nov. 24 on one count each of Aggravated Assault of a Public Servant, Aggravated Assault of a Fireman, Aggravated Assault with a deadly weapon, Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle and Evading Arrest.
All of the Aggravated Assault charges are First Degree Felonies; the Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle and the Evading Arrest charges are both State Jail Felonies. At Hopkins’ first court appearance on December 1, he pleaded guilty to all five charges.
In exchange for entering a guilty plea, Hopkins received three 10-year sentences for all the assault offenses and two 2-year sentences on the State Jail Felonies.
“He will serve them concurrently, not consecutively,” said Burnett.
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