(This story was updated with additional information and a photo gallery.)
Gregg Pacheco, who has been involved in several road rage incidents while riding his motorcycle in Palm Coast, was sentenced July 8 to 30 days in jail followed by 48 months probation, for reportedly pulling a gun on a driver.
Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols offered Pacheco a withhold of adjudication, meaning he won’t have a felony conviction on his record, if he agreed to spend 30 days in jail, which he accepted.
The judge said she needed Pacheco to understand that he could not pull a firearm in cases like this. The judge also said that the fact that Pacheco, who is 53, did not already have a felony record, weighed heavily in her decision.
“I think he needs to spend some time in jail. If he wants that withhold, he needs to undersand that that type of behavior is unacceptable,” Nichols said.
Nichols also said Pacheco would not receive credit for the 49 days’ time served in jail before he bonded out.
“I need him to understand that you do not pull a firearm when the other person hasn’t pulled a firearm and if he wants to be able to maintain his rights to have a firearm and have that withhold: 30 days in jail,” Nichols said.
Assistant State Attorney Tara Libby objected to the withhold. The lack of a felony means Pacheco can have firearms again if he successfully completes probation. The prosecutor said given his road rage past, Pacheco should never be allowed to be armed again.
Defense attorney Josh Davis said Pacheco works at a concrete plant and asked if the judge would allow him to serve the time on weekends. Nichols denied the request.
Pacheco will not be allowed to have firearms while he is on probation, which is a standard condition. He must also forfeit any firearms he now has to the sheriff’s office. He must also undergo a mental health evaluation. He cannot use drugs or alcohol during probation.
Pacheco entered a no-contest plea to aggravated assault with a firearm, a third-degree felony, and criminal mischief, a second-degree misdemeanor.
The open plea meant he did not reach an agreement with prosecutors. The plea form stated that prosecutors had offered probation and an adjudication of guilt.
Libby said Pacheco wouldn’t agree to the adjudication of guilt, which is why they didn’t reach an agreement before sentencing.
Libby said Pacheco had escalated in road rage incidents from breaking mirrors to pulling a firearm.
“This is not somebody that should be on the streets carrying a firearm,” Libby said.
Pacheco did not make any statements about what happened. The man he was accused of threatening did not attend the hearing.
His attorney, Davis, disputed what he said prosecutors were trying to portray Pacheco as which was “an out-of-control guy that we should be in fear of.”
Road Rage: A gun and a collapsible baton
Pacheco was riding his Harley-Davidson on June 11, 2024, with his wife, Amy, as a passenger and they were stopped at the red light at Palm Coast Parkway and Palm Harbor Drive. A driver in a work van commented on the way Pacheco was driving the motorcycle, saying, “If you guys ride like that, you’re going to get yourself killed.”
The man in the work van said Amy Pacheco opened a collapsible baton and said “We’re not going to die, you’re going to (expletive) die!” according to the affidavit.
As the light turned green, Gregg Pacheco pulled out a gun and pointed it at the driver before speeding away, the affidavit stated.
Biker’s wife pleads in Palm Coast road rage
Amy Pacheco, 47, pleaded no contest May 14 to a reduced charge of exhibition of a dangerous weapon and was adjudicated guilty, according to the terms of a plea agreement. She was originally charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She was placed on 12 months probation with an option for early termination. During that time, she may not possess weapons or guns, and is subject to random urinalysis. Amy Pacheco was also ordered to write an apology letter to the victim.
Prior road rage incidents
The incident that got him jailed was the third time Gregg Pacheco was accused in a road rage confrontation since 2021.
He was also involved in a fourth confrontation in which the other driver was arrested and the sheriff’s office praised Pacheco’s restraint.
On Dec. 4, 2023, at a Palm Coast intersection, Gregg Pacheco was on his motorcycle when he reportedly punched the front-passenger side window of a car several times, shattering it, a charging affidavit stated. He was then accused of kicking the car’s front bumper. The car’s front passenger side mirror was turned in the opposite direction.
Amy Pacheco was in a car and was accused of trying to strike the other car’s driver. Gregg Pacheco claimed the other driver ran him off the road. He said he “pushed” the mirror to get her attention. Deputies found that Gregg Pacheco was carrying a gun and a set of brass knuckles. The State Attorney’s Office declined to file any charges.
On July 25, 2021, a couple said they were riding their car on Belle Terre Parkway when a motorcyclist struck their vehicle’s driver’s side mirror, damaging it. A woman was a passenger on the motorcycle. Gregg Pacheco was charged with criminal mischief, less than $200. Prosecutors dropped the charge after he successfully completed a deferred prosecution agreement.
In a March 17, 2022, road rage incident, Gregg Pacheco was out on his motorcycle when he was involved in a road rage incident. Pacheco drew a gun on a driver who had threatened him with a knife. Pacheco’s attorney provided a video showing a man he identified as Pacheco drawing his gun and ordering a man armed with a knife to put the knife down. Sheriff Rick Staly praised Pacheco’s restraint at the time.
But in an interview after Pacheco’s latest arrest, Staly said the 2022 incident showed that Pacheco should have known how to act in the latest case.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Harley-Davidson biker in Palm Coast road rage confrontation sentenced to 30 days’ jail
Reporting by Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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