Carson City deputies arrest pair for beating victim with bat in front of toddler during burglary

Two Carson City men were arrested early Thursday morning on Tiger Drive after allegedly beating a man with a baseball bat in front of his toddler during a robbery.

Jose Rivera, 25, and Brandon Sanchez, 21, were arrested after dispatch received a call of a home invasion burglary in progress.

According to the victim, two men later identified as Rivera and Sanchez wearing all black broke into his home and struck him on the head with a baseball bat while he was laying on his bed holding his 2-year-old child. The strike to his face caused a gash to open up and bleed profusely, according to the report.

The victim said he wasn’t sure but thought he may have been struck a second time.

The skinny man, later identified as Sanchez, zip tied his wrists together in front of him, and began to attempt to zip tie his feet together.

The victim said he attempted to fight back against the subjects and was able to get to h is feet before the heavy set man, later identified as Rivera, shoved him back onto the bed.

At this time, the victim’s son, who is special needs, was attempting to play with the men and the victim decided that he needed to grab his son and just worry about keeping him safe.

Once the men had gathered multiple items including two handguns and the victim’s phone from the house, they left through the front door.

The victim had a landline which he used to call the police.

Deputies created a perimeter of the area. One deputy noticed a black pick-up leaving the area of 600 Hot Springs, and the vehicle was being driven by a skinny man with longer hair and the passenger in the vehicle appeared to be a heavy set man, both of whom matched the descriptions given by the victim.

Deputies stopped the vehicle. Sanchez immediately exited the vehicle and it appeared he was going to run from the scene, according to the report. He was detained in handcuffs for the safety of the officers.

During a pat down, deputies located a magazine for a Ruger LCR 9mm pistol on his person.

The victim reported the same type of handgun had been taken from his residence during the robbery.

On the way to the hospital, the victim saw the men being detained and positively ID’d them as being the two that robbed him and had taken all the times from his home.

During the search of Rivera, the victim’s phone was recovered from the front pocket of his pants.

The two were arrested and transported to the Detectives area for interviews. During the interview, both admitted to committing the robbery. Rivera admitted that the victim is his relative and that he had gone shooting with him in the past and kew he had handguns.

Neither Rivera nor Sanchez would tell the location of the guns and property taken in the robbery.

Just after 1:48 p.m., deputies applied for and received a search warrant for the vehicle that was being driven by Rivera and Sanchez, and inside the vehicle they recovered the Ruger LCR that was taken from the residence and several other items.

A nearby resident, at the request of deputies, had reviewed their video surveillance and saw the black pick-up pull up to the driveway of their neighbor’s house. Rivera got out of the vehicle’s passenger seat, took items from the back of the truck and ran to the side yard of the residence.

The occupants of that residence checked their yard and found a black and red backpack, black long sleeve shirt, black beanie, and black wooden bat with blood on it hidden behind a barbecue. Inside the bag was a gun box containing a Smith and Wesson .40 semi automatic handgun that matched the description of the gun taken.

In addition, deputies located multiple pieces of jewelry in the bag, which had belonged to the victim’s mother.

Both Jose Rivera and Brandon Sanchez are being charged with:

Felony home invasion, felony residential burglary with a weapon, felony robbery, felony battery with intent to commit robbery, and gross misdemeanor child endangerment.

Bail for each: $137,500