Attempted murder charge filed in Vernal baseball bat attack

VERNAL — Prosecutors have filed an attempted murder charge against one of three individuals involved in the Jan. 8 baseball-bat beating of an 18-year-old man.

Juan Enrique Morales, 23, also faces charges of tampering with evidence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

According to court records, Morales told police he was at a Vernal convenience store with two teenage brothers when a group of at least six men began yelling obscenities at them and making obscene hand gestures. Investigators said Morales told one of the teens to retrieve an aluminum bat that he kept "for protection" in the bed of his pickup truck.

When the other vehicle left the convenience store, police said Morales and the two teens followed it to a nearby business and allegedly confronted Richard Oldson. One of the teens — a 16-year-old — used the bat to strike Oldson twice in the head, according to authorities.

The other youth, who is 14, told investigators that when his brother hit Oldson the second time it was "like someone shot him in the face, he just dropped and started twitching on the ground."

"(He) stated that the first hit knocked the kid out, but he was still standing and (his brother) hit him a second time, knocking him unconscious, dropping him on the ground," Vernal police detective Andy Meinrod wrote in a probable cause statement filed to obtain an arrest warrant for Morales.

Oldson was taken to Ashley Regional Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with a potential brain injury, court records state. He was later flown to a Salt Lake hospital after doctors found bleeding inside his skull.

An update on Oldson's condition was not immediately available on Tuesday.

Police said Morales took the teens to his Jensen home afterward and the bat was hidden behind a washer and dryer.

Both teens are in being held in the Split Mountain Youth Detention Center in Vernal. The 16-year-old could face charges as an adult; however, Uintah County prosecutors are awaiting final reports from law enforcement before they determine what charges will be filed.

Morales made his initial court appearance Tuesday morning. He remains in the Uintah County Jail and will be back in court Wednesday for a bail hearing.

E-mail: geoff@ubstandard.com