Folsom man facing gun charge after school incidents to stay under federal hold
A man who was arrested by the FBI after looking for “sniper points” at Folsom High School and visiting an elementary school attended by his son in violation of a court order should remain in custody at least until he can be transferred to a mental health treatment facility, a federal magistrate judge ruled Friday.
Curt Taras, 53, is facing both federal and state charges in the case, which his attorneys say stemmed from a mental health crisis. His arrest in both arenas for incidents that are typically handled at the state level has led to conflicting dates for hearings and slowed down the judicial process in both state and federal court, attorneys Matthew Taylor and Mark Reichel said.
“It interferes with a system that is set up pretty well,” Reichel said.
Hearings set for Thursday and Friday in state court were put on hold because Taras was in federal custody, leading a Sacramento Superior Court judge to issue a bench warrant for his arrest and also delaying the implementation of a plea deal that would have led to mental health treatment.
Taras was arrested after the incident at Folsom High School in late September on suspicion of making criminal threats and possession of a concealed firearm in a vehicle, but would ultimately just be charged with violating a court order in connection with his marital separation, according to Taylor. He had not taken a firearm to the school, but was found to have a gun locked in his car in a nearby parking lot.
Under a deal with Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho’s office, he was set to plead guilty to the charge and begin intake to a veterans’ treatment court on Friday, Taylor said. But that process was put on hold because soon after Taras’ released on bail, he was taken into federal custody and on Thursday was charged with possessing a gun within 1,000 feet of a school.
Sacramento U.S. Attorney Eric Grant did not respond to a question about why federal law enforcement stepped in to a case of the sort that is typically handled at the state level, citing the federal government’s shutdown.
But Taylor said it was likely prompted by concerns in the community that Taras could pose a threat to the schools, or to others. At the hearing on Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Abendroth said that 11 guns were registered to Taras, including one that he did not immediately hand over to Folsom police.
Taylor insisted that Taras went to Folsom High School in the throes of paranoid worry about the safety of students there, and was looking to see if they needed to be protected from potential snipers. He said that Taras, a civil engineer who suffered a traumatic brain injury in the Air Force and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was having a paranoid episode triggered by the deterioration of his marriage.
He went to a Folsom elementary school to see his son, violating a court order issued in connection with his family situation, and not related to his visit to the high school, Taylor said.
At Friday’s federal proceeding, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sean Riordan acknowledged that the two processes had complicated Tara’s situation. He agreed with Abendroth that Taras’ repeated phone calls and visits to the family home and a son’s school in violation of a court order raised safety issues, but also agreed with Taylor and Reichel that Taras might be better served in an inpatient treatment facility.
Because one had not yet been identified for him, Riordan ordered Taras to continue to be detained.
“This might seem like a strange outcome,” he told Taras, who was in court wearing a green sweatshirt over his orange jail jumpsuit. “You have a state court releasing you on bail and you have me ordering you detained.”
