Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Former UFC fighter Cain Velasquez, who was arrested Feb. 28 and is being charged with attempted murder and 10 additional gun-related charges, was denied bail during a hearing in Santa Clara County (California) court on Monday.
Marc Raimondi of ESPN reported it was the second time Velasquez was denied bail after he was initially denied on March 7.
Judge Shelyna Brown pointed to Velasquez’s “reckless disregard for human life” in the decision to deny him bail Monday. She said his “extreme recklessness” is why she denied his bail the first time.
Velasquez was arrested after allegedly chasing Harry Eugene Goularte during what the Santa Clara County district attorney described as an “11-mile, high-speed chase” and then firing a gun into Goularte’s vehicle multiple times after ramming the truck.
While Goularte was not injured in the shooting, his stepfather, Paul Bender, was in the vehicle and suffered a non-life-threatening nerve injury in his shoulder when he was hit by one of the bullets.
Goularte has been charged with a lewd or lascivious act upon a child under age 14 and is scheduled for a June 6 plea hearing.
A relative of Velasquez’s who is under 10 years old told police in February that Goularte sexually molested them potentially “100 times” inside the bathroom of a daycare center and then informed the child not to tell anyone.
Goularte, who lives in the building that houses the daycare center his mother owns, denied the allegations.
Velasquez’s plea hearing is scheduled for June 10. He could face 20 or more years of jail time if convicted on the charges.