Suspect pleads not guilty 2 years after allegedly shooting Yelm man

A 37-year-old man suspected in a 2015 shooting near Yelm appeared in court Monday on first-degree kidnapping and second-degree assault while armed with a deadly weapon.

Santino A. Moreno was booked into the Thurston County jail on Oct. 20, nearly two years after he allegedly shot a man in the leg while trying to recover $600 that the alleged victim had borrowed, then lost at a local casino. Charges were filed against Moreno more than a year ago.

He appeared before Thurston County Superior Court Commissioner Nathan Kortokrax on Monday and pleaded not guilty to both charges. Kortokrax set bail at $20,000. Public Defender Eric Pilon noted that Moreno is currently serving an Oregon prison sentence, and wouldn’t be released for 18 months.

Yelm police responded to a home on the 15700 block of Mossman Street Southeast in the early hours of Nov. 1, 2015, after a 911 caller reported that a man had been shot in the leg. An officer found the man in a bathtub, bleeding from his leg, according to court documents.

He was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

The man told police that he was at a home on Yelm Avenue when Moreno arrived and demanded $600. The two men had recently gone to a casino together, and the alleged victim lost Moreno’s money.

Moreno took out a .380 caliber pistol and shot him in the leg, the alleged victim reported. He said that Moreno shot him so he wouldn’t run away.

Moreno allegedly held the gun to the man’s head and ordered him to climb in the car. He drove the alleged victim to the home on Mossman Street, according to court documents.

Eventually, Moreno fled, the alleged victim said.

Later, a detective spoke with a woman who said she went to Wal-Mart with Moreno, whom she knew as “Tattoo Mike,” at about 1 a.m. She then let Moreno borrow her car, according to court documents.

When she got her car back later, there was blood on the passenger side door, she reported. When the woman asked Moreno about the blood, he allegedly said that a friend had cut himself inside of the car.

However, she believed that there was more blood on the door than would have come from a cut.

Police contacted the alleged victim again at the hospital, and he said that he believed Moreno would come back and kill him for the money.

Detectives were unable to locate Moreno until he was arrested in Oregon in November 2016. Police in Oregon told local detectives that Moreno had outstanding warrants in California for murder and drug trafficking charges.

The Fresno Bee reported in September 2014 that Moreno was wanted in connection with three gang-related shootings there. Four other men also were tied to the case — including a man who was fatally shot as he allegedly tried to elude police.

According to Fresno Superior Court records, Moreno faces two murder charges and one robbery charge in Fresno County.

This story was originally published October 23, 2017 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Suspect pleads not guilty 2 years after allegedly shooting Yelm man."