In re M.C. CA1/5

BACKGROUND

At the restitution hearing, E.B.1 testified that, before M.C. stole her 2016 Kia Soul in March 2023, the car was undamaged and she considered it to be in “brand new” condition. She relied on her car for her daily commute between her home in Antioch and her job as a certified nursing assistant in San Francisco, for which she earned about $254 a day. Before arriving for each 7:00 a.m. work shift, she had to drive from Antioch to Concord to drop off her autistic child with her child care provider, and then drive from Concord to San Francisco.

When the car was recovered, however, it was “not drivable.” The ignition had been “ripped . . . out,” the front bumper was “totally torn off,” the rear bumper was “demolished,” and the side panel was “smashed in.” E.B. had to have the car towed to an auto body shop. Because she no longer had a drivable car, E.B. missed 15 days of work.

E.B. had taken out a “high interest” car loan to purchase the car in October 2022, with her parents supplying the $1,000 down payment. She could not recall the sticker price of the car, but her monthly loan payment was about $495. At the time it was stolen, the unpaid balance on the loan was…