Former Carlsbad sgt. accused in stolen minibike case.

The jury in the trial of former Carlsbad police Sgt. Robert West on charges of receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle pronounced itself "hopelessly deadlocked" Tuesday afternoon, the Carlsbad Current-Argus reported today on its Web site.

The trial, which began on Monday before state District Judge Jay Forbes, came to a halt after the jury foreman told Forbes the jury was deadlocked 11-1, but the foreman didn't say whether the vote was weighted toward acquittal or conviction, the Current-Argus reported.

The 30-year-old West, who served as a Carlsbad police officer from May 1997 until his arrest last April, was accused of illegally attaining a minibike that had been picked up as unclaimed property by police in May 2004, according to earlier reports about the case.

The minibike's owner reported it stolen in June 2004 and police entered the bike's description into a national database, not realizing it was in their own property room, according to earlier Current-Argus accounts of the case.

West was accused of providing a friend with the bike's VIN number and telling him how to claim it as his own, which the friend allegedly did in August 2004.

It was in January of last year that State Police began investigating a report that West was in possession of a minibike that had been reported stolen, and he was arrested last April, the Current-Argus reported.

Three of the four original charges against West were dismissed by prosecutors in January.

Prosecutor Michael Sanchez of Roswell told the Current-Argus Tuesday it was undecided whether West would be retried on the fourth-degree felony, which carries a one- to five-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $5,000.

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