1st Case Under New State Law Is Filed Against Theft Suspect
Orange County prosecutors Tuesday filed the first criminal case under recently enhanced state punishment guidelines against a 33-year-old Rosemead man accused of stealing clothes from a Mervyn’s store in Garden Grove.
The case against Manuel Vincent Juarez does not qualify him for the mandatory life sentence for three-time losers under the “three-strikes” provisions. But Assistant Dist. Atty. Brent F. Romney said Juarez’s one previous felony conviction makes him a “two-strike” defendant facing double the minimum punishment if convicted.
Instead of 16 months in prison, Romney said a judge would be forced to sentence Juarez to at least 32 months if the man were found guilty of the March 12 second-degree burglary at the Harbor Boulevard department store.
Romney said Juarez is accused of taking about $300 in clothing from the store Sunday, and has a 1986 robbery conviction from Los Angeles County.
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