VENTURA : Man Gets 16 Years Over Crime Spree

A Northern California man received the maximum sentence Monday for a 10-day crime spree that started with robbery and torture in Sacramento and ended with gunfire on the Ventura Freeway.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath sentenced Charles Robert Turner of Carmichael to 16 years in prison for armed robbery, car theft, receiving stolen property and possessing a bomb. He will be eligible for parole after serving eight years.

A probation officer’s report gives this account: About 1 a.m. last Aug. 26, Turner, 30, and an accomplice, Jeff Todd Wisdom, went to the Sacramento home of Kevin Jarrett and overpowered him when he answered the doorbell. Turner and tied Jarrett’s hands and feet with duct tape and fishing line.

The intruders covered Jarrett with a throw rug and then beat, kicked and stung him with a cattle prod in an effort to learn his bank-machine card’s secret number. The victim complied after Turner held a .38-caliber gun to his head and cocked it.

The report says Turner and Wisdom stole Jarrett’s car and abandoned it in Santa Monica. On Sept. 1, they took a Nissan ZX300 from a dealership on a test drive and never returned.

Four days later, Wisdom was driving the Nissan on Harbor Boulevard in Ventura when a Volkswagen cut in front of them. Wisdom and Turner pursued the car and fired several shots. A passenger called 911, and the pair were arrested a short time later.

Turner was convicted Feb. 7 after a jury trial. Wisdom pleaded guilty to robbery, car theft and shooting at an occupied vehicle and was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison.