MoroniMess-vdn-112619
EAGLE — Robert Thomas Moroni, 56, was sentenced last week to 30 days in jail and ordered to pay $3,289 in fines and court fees after he allegedly tried to skip out on an $89 bar tab at a Vail bar. He also tried to steal a $30 cap while he was leaving, according to a police report, and spit in a Vail police officer’s face at least four times, which explains why he was arrested for resisting arrest, assault, and theft.
What happened
It was just after 9 p.m. July 3 when Moroni allegedly tried to walk out of 10th Mountain Whiskey in Vail Village without paying his bar tab, according to the police report. The bartender called the Vail Police Department, telling them he would be satisfied with Moroni settling his bar tab.
When police approached Moroni, he claimed he had not brought any cash or credit cards with him, because, as he told officer Mike Chon, he would drink less if he had no way to pay for it. He said if he had his credit cards his bar tab might run up to $300. He did not want to drink that much, he told the police, so that’s why he didn’t bring any method of payment with him.
He told officers his name was Robert McNally and that he was from North Carolina. He had no driver’s license or other ID with him. A quick check with the North Carolina DMV found no one by that name.
Moroni then told police that if they let him return to his hotel, he promised he’d come back with the money. Officer Chon countered that Moroni would not be leaving, but could call someone to bring him the money.
Moroni replied that, in addition to his failure to bring cash or credit cards to pay his bar tab, he did not bring a phone. However, Moroni gave Chon his wife’s phone number.
Moroni argued with Officer Chon about who was going to hold the phone while they called Moroni’s wife. More exactly, Chon was dialing Moroni’s wife when Moroni tried to grab Chon’s phone, shouting, “Give me the f——phone!”
That’s about the time Moroni allegedly unleashed a profanity-laced tirade at Chon. Officer Gregg Schwartz suggested to Chon that they place Moroni under arrest, according to the police report. Chon concurred and they grabbed Moroni’s arms. Moroni started flailing and allegedly tried to walk away from the Vail police officers at the scene.
That’s when Moroni spit four or five times in Chon’s face and kicked him, “yelling profanity and racially-based slurs at Officer Chon, based on Officer Chon’s Asian heritage,” the Vail police report says.
Two more officers arrived to find Moroni in handcuffs with a spit hood pulled over his head. He was taken to the Vail jail cell while police tried to determine who he was since his name was not McNally. Another check with the North Carolina DMV found that he is Robert Thomas Moroni, born March 7, 1963.
Moroni’s wife paid the bar tab.
The whole thing was recorded by a town of Vail security camera.
Moroni was sentenced last week to jail, the fines and court fees, and four years probation.
