A Marion County Circuit Court judge sentenced a Salem man to 11 years in prison for randomly attacking two elementary school employees last summer, leaving one of the women battered and the other unconscious while young children watched. Charly J. Velasquez-Sanchez, 28, pleaded guilty in Marion County Circuit Court to three counts of fourth-degree assault, according to court records. He will receive credit for his time spent in jail and at the state hospital while the case was pending. Judge Audrey Broyles also sentenced him to two years of post-prison supervision.  The sentencing on Aug. 29 concluded a criminal case that spotlighted Oregon’s floundering mental health system.  The case served as an example of the challenges created by a federal judge’s order in 2022, which set deadlines for how long people can stay at the congested Oregon State Hospital in Salem while getting mental health treatment to help them assist in their own defense against criminal charges. Velasquez-Sanchez walked onto the Highland Elementary School campus on June 14, 2023 and assaulted two employees near the school playground.  The incident happened during recess on the last day of the school year and prompted a lockdown on campus.  Velasquez-Sanchez has schizophrenia, and his defense attorney said during his sentencing that he was not of right mind when he attacked the school employees. His mental health condition also delayed his ability to understand court proceedings. The victims’ statements during the hearing and a Salem Police Department affidavit provided an account of the attack. Chaos erupts on the playground The third and fourth grade students had just chosen books to take home for the summer. Ashley Rochetto, an aide for a medically fragile student, and a school librarian took them outside to the Highland playground for 20 minutes of extra recess.  That was when Rochetto saw Velasquez-Sanchez walking down Northeast Highland Avenue near the playground. He walked past the entrance to the school’s parking lot before turning around and walking toward the campus with a blank stare. “I gave him a look back, like, ‘Don’t even think about freaking coming over here near my kids,’” she recalled during the sentencing hearing. “Usually when you make that face towards somebody, they would stop looking at you, or get the hint and turn away. But he seemed like he was on a mission.” Rochetto used her radio to call for help. “That’s when his face turned just so scary,” she said. She saw Velasquez-Sanchez run to the librarian and start punching her.  “I saw kids running and hiding, and I saw kids frozen. I saw kids ready to fight and defend their teachers,” she recalled. “Luckily, no kids put themselves in danger.” Other students inside the school witnessed the attack through a window. When Velasquez-Sanchez turned and ran toward Rochetto, she went into shock and started running away.  She felt an impact on her head, was pushed to the ground and realized she needed to block her head with her arms. That was her last thought before Velasquez-Sanchez knocked her unconscious.  The next thing she remembered was hearing a man scream, “What the f—– are you doing?” Three other school employees had come outside to help.  Meantime, Rochetto realized she needed to get all of the kids inside safely. She circled around the playground, yelling for students to run as fast as they could and into the school building. When one of the employees who was called approached, Vasquez-Sanchez “took a stance like he was going to fight him,” according to the police affidavit. Two other employees then arrived, and Vasquez-Sanchez fled. The school workers eventually caught up with and tackled him on Northeast 5th Street, pinning him to the ground until police arrived. Velasquez-Sanchez told police that he went to the school campus “because a woman was staring at him and ‘mad dogging’ him. He said he also wanted to ‘get close to the children because they are the truth,’” according to the affidavit. An officer reported that he tried to interview Velasquez-Sanchez, “but he was talking nonsense and would not even initially give a name.” Velasquez-Sanchez was booked into the Marion County Jail and later sent to the state hospital for treatment.  Troubled system The state hospital cares for around 500 people with mental illnesses and disabilities.  The hospital in recent years has grown overcrowded, with people across Oregon waiting months in county jails when they are supposed to be getting mental health care.  People unable to assist their lawyers in their defense against criminal charges are supposed to receive treatment at the hospital so that they can participate in the justice system and understand their legal rights and responsibilities. Oregon law allows such patients to stay at the state hospital for up to three years when they are facing felony charges.  But U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman in September 2022 set deadlines for how long those patients can stay at the state hospital. The move was intended to help clear the hospital’s logjam. The federal order has instead shifted the problem to local governments and their communities, according to Broyles, the judge who oversaw Velasquez-Sanchez’s case. After his arrest for the Highland attack, Velasquez-Sanchez spent six months at the state hospital but was never found to be able to take part in his defense. He was sent back to jail in February, still mentally ill. Broyles then fashioned an unusual court order. She told the Marion County Sheriff’s Office to take Velasquez-Sanchez once a week to the state hospital for treatment during the day and then bring him back to jail. But hospital officials promptly filed to get the matter to Mosman, the federal judge, who shut down the idea. He found the plan violated his deadlines for the state facility. In June, Broyles released Velasquez-Sanchez to a non-secure residential facility to get treatment for schizophrenia while on house arrest with GPS monitoring. She said she sent him there to avoid the other alternative of dropping the charges altogether. “Make no mistake, this is not my decision,” Broyles said at the release hearing. Eventually, Velasquez-Sanchez was found able to assist in his own defense. Lasting damage Rochetto said during Velasquez-Sanchez’s sentencing that she would forever be thankful to the men who ran outside and stopped her attacker from causing more damage or trauma for the students and other staff. She said she cannot walk up and down an escalator without feeling like she is going to pass out. She also has a difficult time writing down words without making “silly” mistakes, such as flipping letters around. “It’s just an immeasurable impact,” she said. “Never again will my brain work the way it used to.” The woman said she will always double-check the safety of any building she works in, lock her car door the second she gets in and have a protective dog. “But then again, I’ll never be afraid to fight back,” she said. “I’ve relocated as far from Oregon as I possibly could, not only because of the attack, but because of how broken our judicial system is,” she said. “(It) just seems like it’s made to fail victims.” She said she believed her attacker’s charges should have been more serious than they were. “We live in Oregon. Seems like their main goal is to send dangerous, unwell people back onto the street with no resources, which isn’t good for either person,” she said. She thanked Judge Broyles for advocating for the community. If Judge Mosman were there, she said, “I would tell him that I hope one day you personally will be able to experience the damage of the crazy rulings that he’s made.” Erin Olson, an attorney who represented the victims, read a statement written by the other woman who was attacked. “That day changed how I will view things for the rest of my life,” she said. “Every unknown stranger now appears as a possible threat to me.” Like her former colleague, she said she always locks her car doors immediately. For days after the attack, she would ask someone to come meet her whenever she parked her car at work and home.  “The physical trauma was the easiest part of this. The pain and bruises faded over time. It was the mental trauma that was the worst. I can only imagine what the students went through, and it breaks my heart,” she said in her statement. “Charly doesn’t remember any of what happened that day. Sadly, the rest of us do, and it will have an effect on us for the rest of our lives.” One of the school employees who chased and tackled Velasquez-Sanchez suffered a broken hip, a puncture wound that left a large scar and a “life-changing” shoulder tear that still limits his range of motion, according to Olson, the victims’ attorney. Broyles appeared surprised that Velasquez-Sanchez’ had not been charged with a more serious crime. “I would have thought that the district attorney’s office might have reconsidered once they learned of the extent of the injuries. That might have satisfied a lot of the issues that we had” with state hospital deadlines, she said. Prosecutors’ inability to prove a more serious crime was not due to the victim’s injury, “which we never doubted and express our deepest sympathies for,” said Marion County Deputy District Attorney Brendan Murphy. Instead, it was their inability to prove Velasquez-Sanchez’ “specific, required mental state at the time that injury occurred.” District Attorney Paige Clarkson said in a statement it is not appropriate for prosecutors to escalate charges beyond what they can prove in court. “Doing so, especially to fix gaps in a broken mental health system, is even less appropriate,” she said. “We encourage everyone to focus on what the actual concern in this case is: why does the state hospital insist on releasing clearly dangerous individuals with significant mental health issues back into the community?” Velasquez-Sanchez’ attorney, Michelle Vlach-Ing, said her client had been staying on his medications, showing up for court and meeting her for appointments while staying at the residential facility.  “When he is on his medication, he tends to make better choices,” she said. “We’re not looking to not hold Mr. Velasquez Sanchez accountable for the things that he’s done to the victims in this case. But when he did this, he was not in his right mind. He did not do this with malice. This is an individual who is sick.” Velasquez-Sanchez made a brief statement during his sentencing, saying, “I would just like to apologize for my actions. That’s all.” Broyles said that she was sure Velasquez-Sanchez “would’ve been better off if Judge Mosman hadn’t created his insane rules.” She said that she hoped the victims and witnesses of the attack find “some semblance of normalcy.” “This was a really catastrophic event,” she said. The judge noted that Velasquez-Sanchez was already on probation for violent crimes at the time of the Highland attack. “I can’t justify anything that minimizes the impact that you have had on the community, and you may be doing well right now. Unfortunately, if this were your only thing, that might be different, but this is a history for you. It’s a pattern for you of being unable, getting able, staying on your medication, and then going off your medication and having these incidents,” she said. She said that Velasquez-Sanchez’ victims should not care that he was not of right mind or off his medication when he assaulted them. “They should be free to be at school, doing their job and not have to worry about some person who voluntarily has gone off the rails and is trying to get to these kids, whatever it was you were doing, and beat them repeatedly,” she said.  “These poor people’s lives have been forever changed, and so, you can’t change that. But they can take some satisfaction in knowing that you’re off their streets for a little bit of time,” she said. “It doesn’t give me pleasure to do it, but it is the right thing to do because our community needs to be safe, and I’ll always pick that over anything else when you’ve had the number of opportunities that you have had.” Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post Salem man sentenced to prison for Highland school attack appeared first on Salem Reporter.