Man Burgled Mother’s House, Jury Finds

A 27-year-old Lancaster man with a history of drug use was convicted Friday of residential burglary for breaking into his mother’s house and stealing valuables while she was on vacation.

John Kuykendall faces a maximum sentence of 16 years in state prison because he has three prior felony convictions, including a burglary, a robbery and grand theft, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert B. Foltz Jr.

Foltz said Kuykendall turned to crime to support his drug habit.

During the four-day jury trial in San Fernando Superior Court, Kuykendall’s mother, Joyce Zimmerman, testified that when she returned from a weekend trip to visit her daughter, she found her house ransacked. Such valuables as two entertainment centers, a Cabbage Patch doll collection, clocks, radios, silverware, jewelry and money were gone.

In the house, she found a pair of thongs belonging to her son and an old pair of his shoes were gone, Foltz said.

Two young boys who live across the street from Zimmerman testified that they watched Kuykendall take items out of the house and put them in the back of a truck, Foltz said.

None of the stolen items have been recovered.

Kuykendall, who had been released from state prison only a month before the burglary, did not present a defense.

Sentencing is scheduled Nov. 15.