Laborer Says Having Bag Put Over Head No Laughing Matter

Contrary to testimony given by a Carlsbad baker the previous day, a 27-year-old migrant worker told a Vista court jury Thursday that being bound with duct tape and hooded with a paper bag behind a Carlsbad market was no laughing matter.

“No, I was scared,” Candido Gayosso Salas answered when asked by Dist. Atty. George McFetridge whether he laughed when Randy Ryberg bound his legs and arms with silver duct tape and placed a bag, bearing a funny face and the words “No Mas Aqui,” crude Spanish meaning “No More Here,” over his head.

On Wednesday, Ryberg, who along with William Zimmerman is being tried in Vista Superior Court on a felony count of unlawful imprisonment in the Jan. 3 incident, told the court that Gayosso had laughed when he saw the bag, on which had which been scrawled a face with a toothy grin.

Gayosso’s statements came during the third and final day of testimony in the case.

The jury will return Monday for final arguments before Judge Charles Hayes.

Ryberg and Zimmerman, a self-contracted meat cutter, have been charged with handcuffing Gayosso to a stair railing for more than two hours after Ryberg grabbed the undocumented worker, who had been soliciting day labor with several dozen workers outside the store.

Defense attorneys allege that Ryberg was making a legitimate citizen’s arrest. Zimmerman’s lawyer claims that he was assisting in the arrest.

Authorities, however, say that the two were using Gayosso to send a message to other workers that their daily presence was not appreciated outside the rural store, on El Camino Real, south of California 78.

Ruben Cases, a U. S. Border Patrol agent, also told the jury Thursday that he saw Gayosso handcuffed to the railing while on routine patrol behind the store. He asked the worker what had happened.

But, before Gayosso could respond, a voice behind a screen door inside the store responded ‘It’s all been taken care of,’ ” Casas told the court. He did not identify the speaker. Gayosso said the agent then left without attempting to release him.