The third defendant who was involved in the theft of rifles from
the Big 5 sporting goods store in Morgan Hill was sentenced to jail
Monday, closing the case which led police to a trove of stolen
merchandise from several victims and more than three dozen indoor
marijuana plants.
The third defendant who was involved in the theft of rifles from the Big 5 sporting goods store in Morgan Hill was sentenced to jail Monday, closing the case which led police to a trove of stolen merchandise from several victims and more than three dozen indoor marijuana plants.
Roxanne Villabrille, 36 of San Jose, will spend 77 days in Santa Clara County Jail plus three years on probation, according to District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Amy Cornell. Villabrille pleaded no contest to one count of possession of stolen property May 6.
Two others involved in the March 12, 2009 burglary – Alexis Tomines, 29, and Ramiro Lozano, 35 – were sentenced in April. Tomines, of San Jose, pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property and being a felon in possession of a firearm, and will spend 16 months in state prison.
Lozano, who had a $1 million warrant out for his arrest following the Big 5 incident, pleaded no contest to burglary, possession of stolen property, cultivation of marijuana, and three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He agreed to spend 6 years, 3 months in state prison, Cornell said.
Police received a call from a Big 5 employee shortly after the store in Cochrane Plaza opened the morning of the burglary. A hole had been cut through the wall next to the rifles section, and seven rifles were missing from the store, police said.
Video surveillance tapes from inside the store showed a round piece of sheetrock being cut away from the other side with a saw, and an arm reaching through the hole and retrieving the guns. The hole was cut from the adjacent rental unit, which was empty at the time.
Later that day, acting on a tip police watched as Lozano and Tomines exchanged a black duffel bag at Lozano’s house on Fontanelle Drive in San Jose. Tomines was later arrested in a traffic stop, as police found the stolen rifles in the duffel bag.
Authorities then acquired a search warrant and went to Lozano and Villabrille’s home, where they 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.
