Tony “Bosco” Pereira is a free man and has a clean slate following his $2,100 payment of restitution to a Wendover business according to the Elko County Justice Court.
According to court records all charge against the former West Wendover restaurant owner and according to some flim flam man were dismissed May 9th. The dismissal came three months after Pereira paid $2,100 to the owners of the New Fashion store in West Wendover.
Charged with one felony count of Theft by Misrepresentation by the Elko Justice Court, Pereira had allegedly been on the lam for over a year when he was arrested trying to board a plane in Hawaii out of the country on November 17, 2011.
He subsequently made bail and returned voluntarily to Elko County and made an appearance in West Wendover Justice Court when he made good on the charge and now according to the Justice Court in Elko even his guilty plea is dismissed.
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But while the self styled entrepreneur has a clean record his reputation in Wendover is not so shiny. In fact the $2,100 he paid to get out of the felony has been likened to a drop in the bucket in the amount of money he owes to several other Wendover businesses and individuals who either gave him a line of credit or who worked for him during the one year his Asian Garden Restaurant was operating in the Plaza Shopping Center.
Pereira came to Wendover with a great story or stories and with promises to bring an economic boon to town. He along with partner Beth Belio even ran for city council in 2010 and garnered about 25 percent of the vote.
But as the ballots were being counted the couple fled town.
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The catalyst behind the sudden move was a reported ultimatum from Plaza owner Scott Bangerter for the back rent and current owed on the restaurant or face eviction.
Most of the restaurants furniture, equipment and fixtures were moved to the old Hot Spot Video building the two converted to living quarters earlier.
Bangerter was however not the only local businessman the two owe money too.
In a legal notice published in that week’s High Desert Advocate, Mesa complex Storage owner Lauara Snyder noticed that an auction to take place two’s possessions would be held to satisfy a landlord’s lien.
“I can’t tell you how much they owe but it is in the thousands,” Snyder said. “We tried working with them and the kept on coming up with different formulas but in the end I just got tired of it.”
While the couple made good on at least some back rent it is unknown as of press time just what is the state of their current account.
Apart from the storage facility and the restitution to New Fashion the only other business the Advocate was able to find that recouped its debt was the Advocate itself. This February after almost two years the newspaper finally received a $500 payment for a bad check Pereira wrote in 2010.
Apart from creating havoc in many local businesses accounting, Pereira indirectly created a new city ordinance. Proposed by former loyal customer West Wendover Police Chief Ron Supp the city now requires the finger printing and back ground checks of all new business owners coming to West Wendover.
Critics of the new ordinance point out that even if it had been in place when Pereira came to town it would not have stopped him then nor after his record has been wiped clean would stop him now.