Head-Butting Wrestler Gets A Month In Jail

Former Colville High School wrestler Chad Hilderbrandt was sentenced Monday to a month in the Stevens County Jail for knocking a referee unconscious.

Hilderbrandt will serve his sentence in the adult jail because he turned 18 on May 28 - even though he was charged in juvenile court.

He pleaded guilty last month to a charge of fourth-degree assault for smashing his forehead into Spokane referee Bob West’s forehead on Jan. 18. West fell to the floor and was briefly unconscious.

Hilderbrandt apparently was angry that West penalized him for shoving another 190-pound wrestler who pinned him in a Frontier League match at Colville. Hilderbrandt already had been penalized for intentionally head-butting his opponent, Josh Kelp of West Valley.

Stevens County Superior Court Judge Fred Stewart imposed the sentence recommended by Deputy Prosecutor Gina Tveit despite pleas for leniency by Hilderbrandt’s attorney, Pat Monasmith.

In addition to the jail time, Hilderbrandt got a year of probation and was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and pay still-undetermined restitution for West’s medical bills.

West asked the judge to impose a strong sentence as a deterrent to violence against sport officials. The 20-year veteran wrestling and softball official also is pushing for a change in state law to allow third-degree assault charges automatically in attacks on officials.

Prosecutor Jerry Wetle said he was unable to file the more serious charge without waiting for more evidence of long-term medical problems. West grew weary of waiting and asked the prosecutor’s office to file the fourth-degree assault charge.

The conviction was Hilderbrandt’s second fourth-degree assault. He pleaded guilty last year in an attack on Colville resident Doug Harder and served six months of probation.

, DataTimes