The Las Vegas Metro Police Department gave YouTuber and candidate for “government” of an unspecified state Jose “Chille” DeCastro as surprise on Wednesday by filing a motion to attorneys fees and related nontaxable expenses in relation to his recent loss of a court case against them for a sum of $18,385.45.
The YouTuber is also facing a separate bill of costs for $8,209.68 for other costs and services incurred during the lawsuit.
DeCastro’s lawsuit sprung from a March 2023 arrest in Las Vegas by members of the LVMPD. DeCastro claimed that his civil rights were violated, that he was physically assaulted by one of the officers and that he was subjected to excessive force by the police officers.
DeCastro filed this suit in 2023, a little under a year before he went to jail in 2024 after being found guilty of charges of obstructing an officer and interfering in a crime scene. He served roughly four months of his six-month sentence before being set free on appeal.
He is separately suing the judge who convicted him, the judge who set him free and nearly everyone who was involved in the criminal case.
DeCastro v. the LVMPD went to trial in February and the jury sided with the LVMPD.
DeCastro says that he will appeal the decision to the 9th Circuit.
In Wednesday’s filing, the LVMPD said that while the defendants believed all of DeCastro’s claims were frivolous, two claims were egregious.
They explained, “During discovery DeCastro posted numerous videos slandering Sandoval and even filed a Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) under the penalty of perjury identifying Sandoval as the abuser. However, at trial DeCastro admitted he lied in his SAC and his videos and now claimed Sandoval never punched him in the groin, but claimed Bourque did. The jury found no one punched DeCastro. Second, DeCastro alleged Bourque and defendant Torrey selectively enforced the law against him. Trial revealed DeCastro never had any supporting evidence. Because DeCastro knew these claims were false, yet he pursued them through the end, the defendants, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988, LVMPD Defendants are therefore entitled to reasonable attorneys’ fees attributable to defending against these frivolous claims.”
Later adding, “DeCastro’s explanation he “mistakenly” named the wrong officer is not credible. The SAC’s own language refutes this excuse. Paragraph 62 of the SAC specifically describes a scenario where DeCastro “protested that he’d already been patted down by two officers” before Sandoval allegedly spread his legs and struck him. This description demonstrates DeCastro was not describing Bourque’s initial pat-down – he was fabricating a separate incident involving Sandoval. DeCastro knew he had already been patted down by Bourque and Dingle prior to interacting with Sandoval when he wrote this allegation, and he still specifically alleged Sandoval conducted another pat-down and struck him in the groin with a closed fist. That never happened.
Moreover, DeCastro had full access to the body worn camera footage at the time he filed the SAC and at the time he posted the YouTube video doubling down on his allegation that Sandoval gratuitously struck him in the genitals. The footage clearly shows who conducted the pat-down. A reasonable inquiry into the facts – or even a cursory review of the footage DeCastro himself was using to build his case – would have revealed Sandoval did not strike him in the groin during a pat-down.”
According to the document, the requested amount is based on the two “frivolous” claims by DeCastro.
Again, this is the defendants’ motion for court costs and it has not been approved by the Judge as of press time.
This is a developing news story.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the $18,385.45 was the only expenses DeCastro is facing from the trial. After a re-examination of the data, Merb’s video on the subject, and much feedback we’ve updated our figures. We apologize for the confusion.
