‘Career’ Burglar Sentenced to 34-Year Term

A man with 12 previous burglary convictions, some dating as far back as 1973, was sentenced Thursday to 34 years in state prison for attempting to burglarize a Mission Hills home.

Danny Perry, 32, of Pacoima probably will serve about half that time, said San Fernando Superior Court Judge Meredith C. Taylor.

Perry was arrested Dec. 16, 1987, after he broke into the home of Daniel Rohrbach, a Cal State Northridge student, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Norman F. Montrose.

According to court documents, Rohrbach arrived home while Perry was inside. He grabbed a gun and ordered Perry into the bathroom, where he hoped to keep him until police arrived, the documents said.

Perry tried to escape. The two men then wrestled over control of the gun, court documents said.

“It is unusual for someone to get 34 years for one burglary, but he was a career burglar,” Montrose said.

Perry had 27 arrests and 12 convictions for burglarizing homes throughout the San Fernando Valley, Montrose said.

Taylor said she believed that Perry should have spent more time in state prison for some of his earlier convictions, which might have deterred him from continuing to burglarize homes.

“You are articulate, you are intelligent and you have misapplied that,” she said. “You have a tremendous capacity for good and you have wasted 10 or 12 years of your life.”

Perry jumped bail twice between his latest burglary arrest and June 7, when he pleaded guilty to the burglary charge, Montrose said. Once, he was captured by a police officer who stopped him for a traffic violation; the second time, he was found by a bounty hunter working for a bail bondsman, Montrose said.