No charges after man told cops he was shot, beaten with chains, golf club and ATV

The Nevada County District Attorney’s Office said Friday that it would not pursue charges against three people arrested after a bizarre attack in which a Grass Valley man was shot, beaten with chains and a golf club and run over with an all-terrain vehicle.

In a news release, Assistant District Attorney Chris Walsh said Friday no charges would be filed because the victim had previous had a restraining order against him, which was obtained by individuals living at the property where the assault occurred Tuesday.

Early Wednesday morning, deputies were notified that a 31-year-old man with a reported gunshot wound in the abdomen was taken to Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital. Before the man was transported to Mercy San Juan in Sacramento, he told police he had been shot, beaten and run over the day before at a property on the 18000 block of Mustang Valley Place, according to Nevada County Sheriff’s Office.

When detectives executed a search warrant at the property, they found all the weapons and the three people described by the victim. Those three – Jerry Delre, 67, Aaron Pillow, 32, and Lindsey Papola, 29 – were each arrested and booked into Nevada County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and assault with great bodily injury.

But Walsh said the three would not be prosecuted, as the unidentified man had history of altercations with people living on the property. According to the Union in Grass Valley, authorities were called to the property in April after the victim allegedly doused the home and one of the residents with fuel and threated to “blow the place up.”

“As background, it should be noted the alleged victim had a restraining order against him that had recently elapsed, issued earlier this year,” Walsh said. “The restraining order had been obtained by individuals who lived at the property where this happened.”

The Union said authorities were still reviewing the previous incidents between the victim and residents and that charges in those cases could be filed in the future.

In describing Wednesday’s incident Walsh said that several people living at the Mustang Valley property said the hospitalized man entered the property and was told to leave. When an argument ensued, the man pulled a knife on Delre, according to Walsh. That prompted another person to shoot the victim in the stomach with an air rifle.

“It was an air rifle but powerful,” Walsh said. “Even though it was just a pellet, it penetrated the skin and caused internal damage.”

Walsh said another person struck the alleged victim with a golf club and Delre may have run over the victim with ATV in the fight.

The 31-year-old man then went home to sleep, apparently unaware the severity of his injuries, Walsh said.

Family of the man took him to the hospital early Wednesday and had called police. Walsh said that when the man was interviewed by officers, he withheld information from investigators and only later admitted he was armed with a knife.

This story was originally published June 21, 2019 at 11:00 AM.