Burglar gets 7 1/2 years in home invasion case

Kim Smith

Friday, July 20, 2001 | 11:19 a.m.

Mike Springer's 8-year-old may be sleeping a little easier tonight.

One of the men who stormed into his garage armed with guns on Nov. 16 was sent to prison on Thursday. The other man, the one who held a gun to his dad's head, will be sentenced Aug. 2.

According to authorities, Mike Springer and Jim Boubon, 36, were shooting pool in the garage of Springer's North Las Vegas home when Taro Mitchell and Chester Johnson stormed through the open door with their guns drawn.

Mitchell held a gun to Springer's head, but he didn't know that the two men they had decided to rob were off-duty Metro Police officers.

Within seconds, Boubon had drawn his weapon and had shot Johnson three times and Mitchell once.

On May 24, Mitchell, 20, and Johnson, 18, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery.

District Judge Michael Douglas ignored the recommendation of the Parole and Probation Department Thursday and sentenced Johnson to 7 1/2 years in prison with parole possible after three years.

The judge acknowledged that he will likely sentence Mitchell much more harshly next month because of his role in the event and his criminal history.

The Parole and Probation Department recommended the pair each receive six years with parole possible after 15 months.

The officers expressed their satisfaction with Douglas' decision after Thursday's hearing.

Although accustomed to danger, neither officer ever expected to confront it in their own homes.

On the day of the incident, Springer's four children -- then 10 months old, 2, 6 and 7 -- were in the house and both men's wives were in the kitchen.

Surrounded by family members Thursday, the officers said they believe Boubon's last-second decision to wear his gun probably saved lives that day.

"I didn't have my gun on the whole day, but I was getting ready to go to (Springer's) house and I saw it on the night stand," Boubon said. "Now I wear it 24 hours a day."

Springer too has made some changes in his life. The weekend after the incident he and Boubon put a chain link fence up around his house at the request of his oldest son, now 8.

In a letter he read to Douglas, Springer asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence possible for his children's sake.

Each night his children express their worries in their bedtime prayers and his 8-year-old cries whenever he hears an unfamiliar noise outside his bedroom window.

"Before this incident, I might have called it paranoia to lock all the locks in my house, but now I think it prudent," Springer wrote. "I keep a keen eye on all strangers as they pass my house, wondering what their intentions might be. My life seems to be just a little less free, and much more guarded."