Driver in crash fueled by love triangle pleads ‘no contest’

June 22, 2015
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Robert Moore, at right, with his attorney, James Dimitriou II.

By Allison Scarbrough. OCP Editor.

HART – A 43-year-old Rothbury man pleaded “no contest” to one count of felonious assault in 27th Circuit Court Monday, June 22, stemming a car crash last March in Grant Township fueled by a love triangle.
In exchange for Robert Bernard Moore’s plea, a second count of felonious assault was dismissed, along with one count of reckless driving and one count of leaving the scene of an accident.
In exchange for his plea to the one count of felonious assault, which is also called assault with a dangerous weapon, Moore’s jail time will be capped at four months. Moore will likely be placed on probation as well, said Judge Anthony Monton. The maximum penalty for felonious assault is four years in prison.
Moore backed his vehicle into a car transporting a man with whom he was fighting over the same woman.
Police were able to track down Moore after the crash, because he left his license plate at the scene, police said.
The incident occurred on Northland Crossing Drive the evening of March 8. Moore and an acquaintance were fighting over a Rothbury woman while at a residence, Oceana County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Craig Mast said. Moore left the home in his Ford Expedition, with the woman as his passenger, and the other man left in a Dodge Neon with different woman who was at the home, Mast said.
Moore was driving down the road with the woman they were fighting over in his vehicle when he noticed the other man in the Neon in the passenger’s seat, pull up behind him.
Moore immediately put the Expedition in reverse; accelerated; and struck the Neon with enough force to deploy the airbags, Mast said. He pushed the Neon back with the Expedition about 12 feet as evidenced by the 12-foot skid on the roadway, Mast said.
He then left the scene, but his license plate fell off the Expedition. The two people in the Neon weren’t seriously injured, Mast said. Police searched for Moore at houses in the area and finally located and arrested him.
Moore’s sentencing is set for Aug 3 at 9 a.m.

 

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