Mocko charged with tampering after assault

A Eureka woman faces a felony tampering charge in Lincoln County District Court after allegedly threatening the victim of a brutal assault for speaking with police officers.

Kelsey Elizabeth Mocko pleaded not guilty to the charge during her June 1 arraignment hearing. She is scheduled back in court for a July 27 omnibus hearing for her alleged role in the March 30 beating.

Eureka Police officer Grigori Neils recounted in an affidavit arriving at a residential complex in that town about 12:20 a.m. for a report of a “ruckus” in an upstairs apartment. Speaking with the initial caller, Neils learned that a series of loud reverberations echoed through the building about 11 p.m.

Two men and a woman exited one of the upstairs apartments, the individual said. One man barked orders to the others and “it looked like they were frantically trying to leave,” the witness recalled, according to the affidavit.

As the two spoke, a man exited the apartment and asked to speak with Neils. As Neils approached him, he noticed the man suffered a swollen left eye and cut lip. Blood stained his face and one hand, Neils wrote in the affidavit.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” the victim told Neils.

The two entered the man’s apartment, which Neils described as a wreck. He noted blood on the carpet, furniture and walls. A chair lay on its side. In the bathroom, a mirror was smashed and blood covered sink, floor and walls. Neils also found blood on the bedroom carpeting.

The victim initially told Neils the last thing he remembered was playing a drinking game with Mocko. He could not immediately recall the attack, according to the affidavit, but suspected it occurred because of his sex offender status and that brass knuckles were involved.

He told Neils that upon waking, he had gone to his ex-girlfriend’s house to drop off his pet before returning home with plans to call 911.

Along with inventorying the scene, Neils asked the victim to provide a breath sample. The man had a blood alcohol content of .188, court documents said.

Neils also took a closer look at the man’s wounds. The victim suffered a scrape on his back and a cut on the shoulder. Another cut extended from the top of his nose to his forehead, court documents said.

During the investigation, the victim allegedly took a call from Mocko. Standing nearby, Neils recounted hearing the man tell her that he was speaking with the police.

“You don’t know me, OK?” Mocko said on the other end of the line before hanging up, according to the affidavit.

Eventually, Neils coaxed the name of the assailant out of the victim. According to court documents, the victim accused Jacob Sauls of the attack.

“It appeared [the victim] feared for the repercussions of giving out Jacob’s name,” Neils wrote.

The victim took another call from Mocko, according to court documents. Neils writes that he was standing close enough that his body camera picked up the audio. In it, Mocko is heard saying, “make sure you play your cards right so you don’t get f---ed up,” according to the affidavit.

When Neils interviewed the victim’s ex-girlfriend in the daylight, the woman reported also speaking with Mocko by phone. She alleged that Mocko expressed her displeasure with the involvement of local law enforcement. In the background, the woman heard a man saying, “I should’ve just killed him.”

Neils later attempted to contact Mocko on her mobile phone. When he did reach her, she allegedly refused to speak with him.

“I let her know the circumstances, but she still told me that she didn’t want to talk to me and told me that she could not fit me in her schedule,” Neils wrote.

Based on her refusal, Neils recommended she face charges. He also recommended Sauls be charged with aggravated assault.

Were Mocko’s case to go to trial, it is scheduled for Oct. 13.