A 47-year-old North Carolina man accused of threatening to blow up a bar after he couldn’t pay his bill may soon plead guilty to several charges.
Authorities arrested Damion Thomas Brown on Dec. 8 on a count of assault causing bodily injury, two counts of terroristic threat and a count of theft of service.
He was also arrested on an unrelated charge of impersonating a public servant for allegedly calling a nursing and rehabilitation facility where he was a prior client and pretending to be a Mission police detective, which allegedly occurred Dec. 7.
He is charged in a third incident with assault causing bodily injury for an alleged Jan. 2 incident in jail following an argument over what people were watching on television, according to an affidavit.
Brown appeared in court via videoconferencing Monday afternoon for an arraignment on the impersonating a public servant charge, which his attorney waived, triggering a not guilty plea to the charges.
During the hearing, his attorney, John J. Rodriguez, told state District Judge Noe Gonzalez that he was working out a plea deal with prosecutors for the cases. Brown was taken into custody after a co-owner of Suerte Bar and Grill called McAllen police to report threats Brown made.
According to the affidavit of his arrest, the co-owner made contact with Brown, who left his North Carolina identification as collateral after he couldn’t pay his tab Dec. 8.
Later that day, Brown returned to the location demanding his identification and became verbally aggressive and struck the co-owner on her chest, causing pain and discomfort, according to the affidavit.
“(The co-owner) stated that as Mr. Brown was walking out of the bar he told her ‘Ima kill you’ more than once before leaving,” the affidavit stated. “(She) stated that (Damian) then called Suerte over the phone where he stated he would be back in 15 minutes to ‘blow up’ the business.”
The bar then closed for the safety of employees and customers, according to the affidavit.
The alleged incident happened at 12:50 a.m. and the man’s tab was $167.68, authorities said in the affidavit.
On Dec. 7, Mission police allege that Brown called Mission Nursing and Rehabilitation at 10:15 a.m. in reference to an incident report.
According to the affidavit, Brown identified himself as a Mission police investigator named “John McDow” and requested the whereabouts of an employee with whom Brown was involved in a previous relationship.
The employee who took the call recognized Browns’ voice and called police, according to the affidavit.
Brown remains jailed on a total of $28,500 in bonds and Gonzalez, the judge, scheduled a hearing for a plea in late April.
