Burglar is expected to get 4 years in prison, police say
A convicted burglar accused of letting one of his partners in crime bleed to death after being shot by a homeowner during a break-in gone bad in Costa Mesa is expected to be sentenced to four years in prison, police announced Thursday.
As part of an agreement with prosecutors, Brent Buckner, 36, of Villa Park pleaded guilty in June to three counts of burglary and one count of attempted robbery, according to court records. As part of the deal, prosecutors dropped a felony count of conspiracy to commit acts injurious to the public.
Buckner’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 7 in Orange County Superior Court.
Buckner was part of a crew of burglars targeting houses in Orange County in 2012, according to authorities.
In May that year, Buckner and the crew pried open the front door of a home on Elden Avenue in Costa Mesa, police said.
Buckner and his co-conspirators thought the house was empty for the night, but they discovered the resident was home when they got upstairs, police said.
The burglars pepper-sprayed the man, who grabbed a handgun from his headboard and fired five rounds at the intruders, according to detectives’ testimony at a preliminary hearing last year.
The gunfire hit one of the burglars, Steven Simmons, 33, and the group fled to an SUV waiting outside, police said.
Instead of heading to a hospital, the group drove to a home in Villa Park. Simmons died along the way, detectives testified.
Police believe at least one member of the burglary crew took Simmons’ body to a West Hollywood art gallery owned by Simmons’ stepbrother, Jacob Anthonisen, who was driving the SUV that night, according to police.
There, the body was wrapped in plastic and canvas and loaded back into the SUV, police said.
Authorities found Simmons’ decomposing corpse almost two weeks later after someone reported a foul smell coming from the SUV that was left parked on a street in Los Angeles’ Fairfax District.
Police believe Anthonisen fled to Mexico and Buckner kept burglarizing homes in Orange County. Police said Thursday that they had linked Buckner to break-ins in Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Orange, Villa Park and Anaheim Hills.
Authorities arrested Buckner in April 2013. About six months later, Mexican authorities found Anthonisen in Ensenada and turned him over to Costa Mesa detectives at the border, police said.
Anthonisen, now 41, pleaded guilty in June 2015 to one count of first-degree burglary. He was sentenced the following month to two years in prison.
No charges were brought against the homeowner who shot Simmons. Police said authorities ruled it a justifiable homicide.
Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck
