The new year will bring legal action in regard to the Dec. 5 robbery of Mazzi’s Restaurant, an incident University junior Samuel Sourikoff has been accused of participating in.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Patricia Perlow said a pretrial is scheduled for Jan. 12, 35 days after the initial arraignment. There will also be a mandatory settlement conference with the trial, set for Feb. 3.
Sourikoff was arraigned on charges of four counts of second-degree robbery and one count of second-degree kidnapping. He could not be reached for comment.
The robbery occurred Dec. 5 at 9:55 p.m., when, according to a Eugene Police Department press release, a masked man entered Mazzi’s with what appeared to be a handgun wrapped in a plastic bag. The man left with an undisclosed amount of money and a bottle of wine.
According to the police report, patrons and staff chased the suspect out of the restaurant, and the suspect dropped the wine. The weapon was also discarded and later found to be a toy that was designed to look like a gun.
EPD officers found Sourikoff a short distance from the restaurant, where he was taken into custody and held at the Lane County jail.
In dealing with criminal incidents that involve students, Director of Student Conduct and Community Standards Carl Yeh said each case is different in how the University approaches the issue. However, Yeh said, students may be held accountable both to law enforcement and the University.
According to the Student Conduct Code, the code and its repercussions may be applied to students who commit off-campus offenses if the offense meets certain criteria. Because Sourikoff alledgedly “involved violence or produced a reasonable fear of physical harm,” the University could use the code as a basis to address the crime.
An Oregon administrative rule explains that the University can decide to consider a violation of the Student Conduct Code at any time while the additional criminal charges are resolved outside of the school.
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