Two San Jose men who pleaded guilty to charges related to the
theft of rifles from Big 5 Sporting Goods in Morgan Hill will be
formally sentenced May 3.
Two San Jose men who pleaded guilty to charges related to the theft of rifles from Big 5 Sporting Goods in Morgan Hill will be formally sentenced May 3.
Sentencing hearings for Alexis Tomines, 28, and Ramiro Lozano, 34, scheduled for Monday were continued until next month, according to Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office spokeswoman Amy Cornell.
A third suspect, Roxanne Villabrille, 35, also of San Jose, was scheduled to enter a plea Monday, but her proceeding was delayed until April 15. She faces charges of buying, receiving, concealing or withholding stolen property, and one count of possession of marijuana for sale. She is free on $250,000 bail.
Tomines pleaded guilty in January to charges of possession of stolen property and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
At the same time, Lozano pleaded guilty to burglary, possession of stolen property, cultivation of marijuana, and three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He has remained in custody in lieu of $1 million bail since the March 12, 2009 crime. Tomines has been out of custody on an $80,000 bond.
Both guilty pleas were part of a deal with prosecutors. Tomines agreed to serve a two-year prison sentence, and Lozano agreed to serve six years, four months in prison.
Charges against all three defendants stemmed from the Big 5 incident, in which Lozano stole seven rifles by cutting a hole in the store’s wall from the vacant rental unit next door at Cochrane Plaza. The incident also led police to evidence of even more thefts, plus dozens of marijuana plants growing in Lozano’s home.
Police responded to Big 5 the morning of the burglary, when an employee at the store showed up to open the store to find a hole in the wall next to the rifles section. Seven rifles were missing from the wall display, and video surveillance cameras showed a round piece of sheetrock being cut away from the other side with a saw, and an arm reaching through to retrieve the firearms.
Acting on a tip police watched as Lozano and Tomines exchanged a black duffel bag at Lozano’s house on Fontanelle Drive, according to police reports. Tomines loaded the bag into the trunk of his car, and police followed him as he left the residence.
Minutes later the officers pulled Tomines over and found at least six of the stolen rifles in his car.
Later that day, authorities acquired a search warrant and went to Lozano and Villabrille’s home. The two suspects were not there, but police found 37 marijuana plants growing inside, plus a list of electronics products, video game systems, checks and identification documents stolen from a number of victims – including some in Morgan Hill and Gilroy.
Police returned to the home March 25 and arrested Lozano and Villabrille.
