Five-year terms given in gun theft

Erica D. Johnson

Friday, March 21, 2003 | 9:48 a.m.

Two men charged with stealing firearms and ammunition from a state armory Thanksgiving weekend were each sentenced to two to five years in prison Thursday.

District Judge Michael Douglas sentenced Jonathan Avendano, 21, and Joshua Moyers, 19, on charges stemming from break-ins at a Department of Parole and Probation building on East Bonanza Road and a Department of Motor Vehicles office.

The pair pleaded guilty in January to three felony counts, which included burglary and grand larceny of a firearm, as the result of a plea agreement.

In exchange for their guilty pleas, prosecutors dropped more than 25 felony counts each, including burglary, possession of stolen property and firearms charges.

Prosecutors also agreed not to report the crimes to federal authorities, Chief Deputy District Attorney Victoria Villegas said.

Had the two men been sentenced on the initial charges, they could have received a one- to 10-year prison sentence for each count.

While Parole and Probation usually provides pre-sentencing reports for defendants, the conflict of interest in the case required the federal Department of Parole and Probation create the report instead, Villegas said.

Douglas also ordered the men to pay restitution. The amount has not yet been determined because the DMV is still calculating its losses, she said.

A restitution amount is expected to be set in a hearing May 8.

Police claim the men took 22 handguns and about 5,000 rounds of ammunition from the armory and more than $1,000 in cash and some lost-and-found property from the DMV office.