VENTURA : Man With 2 Stories Guilty of Burglary
A Ventura man was convicted of burglary Thursday after his trial testimony was contradicted by his own tape-recorded words.
James Avants, 34, was found guilty of entering the Ventura apartment of attorney Harrison M. Dunham last October and stealing a watch, a ring and $240. A few hours after the burglary, Avants was found sleeping on a nearby lawn with the stolen items, a police officer testified.
Avants told the jury that he had purchased the items from another man a few hours earlier. But Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert D. Meyers played the tape of a police interview with the defendant in which he denied having the items and suggested that police had planted them.
Avants faces up to seven years in prison when he is sentenced April 5.
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