Man sentenced to 20 years in gun pointing case

(FLORENCE, AZ) - A Pinal County man has been sentenced to 20 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections relating to an incident that involved pointing a gun at students on a school campus.

On October 17, 2022, Pinal County Superior Court Judge Jason Holmberg sentenced Niko Biarco, 30, to 20 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections followed by five years of supervised probation.  The sentence stems from a guilty plea in multiple cases, including the incident detailed below.

Biarco previously pled guilty to two (2) counts of Aggravated Assault, a Class 3 felony; and Armed Robbery, a Class 2 felony.

The case stems from an incident on October 30, 2019, where officers from the Maricopa Police Department responded to a school along North Porter Road. During the investigation, a student revealed while she was sitting in a vehicle in the parking lot, a man broke into the truck next to her. According to court documents, two other students came out to the lot after they were alerted to what was taking place. That's when the man inside the truck pointed a gun at them and subsequently left in the vehicle. The next day, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office located the vehicle near Sacaton and took the driver into custody. Investigators conducted a driver's license check on that person and a relative he lived with, identified as Niko Biarco. Niko matched the description provided by the students, who also positively identified Niko in a photo line-up.

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