Students Get 120 Days in Attack on Legal Immigrant

Two North County men were sentenced Friday to 120 days in a private work-furlough center for robbing a migrant worker in an incident that had racial overtones.

Both Albert Francis Martell, 20, from Rancho Penasquitos, and Michael James Felsinger, 18, of Rancho Bernardo, were placed on three years’ probation by San Diego Municipal Judge Frank Brown.

Because both defendants are in college and didn’t want any time in custody to be served during the school year, Brown ordered the men to serve 60 days next summer and the other two months in the summer of 1992.

They will be able to drive to work during the daytime, but must report into their private custodial setting at nights and on weekends while the sentence is being served.

They already have repaid $1,900 to the victim, Luis Calderon, whose 1980 Datsun station wagon was heavily vandalized. Calderon was robbed of his wallet and his green card.

The attack occurred at 2 a.m. June 9 on Black Mountain Road in Rancho Penasquitos. The pair originally were booked on a hate-crime charge because they allegedly made racial remarks during the holdup.

A prosecutor said the defendants initially told Calderon, a legal immigrant, that they were Border Patrol agents and demanded to see his immigration card. They took the card after he produced it, and it was later found near his car, partly burned.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Oliphant had sought a 180-day sentence for Felsinger and a 90- to 120-day sentence for Martell. Oliphant said Felsinger was believed to be more culpable than Martell.

Neither man had a criminal record. They pleaded guilty to robbery Oct. 15.