Timothy Christensen was recently sentenced to 12–34 months in prison after being found guilty of issuing a check or draft without sufficient credit, a category D felony in the state of Nevada.
Christensen was arrested in August 2018 on a failure to appear warrant and appeared in court on Sept. 11 in the Sixth Judicial District Court before Judge Michael Montero.
Christensen had pleaded guilty to the felony charge in 2010 and was ordered to pay restitution. However, records were not brought forth to the court showing the ordered restitution had been paid in the case.
Christensen is currently serving a sentence in the Northern Nevada Correctional Center for possession of a controlled substance for 12–32 months. Humboldt County Public Defender Matthew Stermitz who represented Christensen asked that any ordered sentence run concurrent to the time he’s currently serving.
Christensen claimed that the restitution had been paid in February 2011, but that it was paid by his father whose house burned down in 2014, so there was no proof of payment to be presented in court. Neith
Court discussions indicated that both victims, Model T and Khoury’s had been served subpoenas to show whether restitution had been paid or not. Legal counsel reported that neither victims brought forth indication that any money had been paid, or that money was owed.
Stermitz said the terms of the original sentencing were that Christensen would walk away if restitution on the case were paid within a year, but there was no proof that it had ever been paid.
Christensen said he was willing to pay the restitution if the victims hadn’t received it and that the proof of prior payment had burned in a house fire.
Montero indicated that he didn’t have any evidence to order restitution be paid in the sentence other than a narrative from the pre-sentencing investigation report prepared by the department of parole and probation in 2009.
“I’m a little caught between a whole bunch of stories and not much evidence,” said Montero.
Christensen was pronounced guilty to the issuance of a check or draft without credit, a category D felony. He was ordered to pay a $3 DNA fee, $25 administrative assessment and $250 public defender fee along with 12–34 months in prison to run concurrent to the sentence he is currently serving.
“I don’t have any evidence to order restitution,” said Montero.
