Rowland

Having determined that its original sentencing of appellant Peter Louis Rowland was invalid for lack of an award of victim restitution, the trial court resentenced him to include such an award in the sum of $143,517.33. On appeal, appellant argues the award must be stricken because (1) the original sentence was valid; and (2) he was not advised of the award as a consequence of his plea of no contest and has suffered resulting prejudice. We reject these arguments and affirm the judgment.

Background

In 1995, the People filed a 22-count information against appellant alleging that he defrauded 13 victims of approximately $225,629 over a 2-year period. On April 24, 1995, as part of a plea bargain, appellant pled no contest to two counts of grand theft (Pen. Code, former § 487, subd. 1) and admitted two related excessive taking enhancements (§ 12022.6, subd. (a)). Thereafter, he received an aggravated three-year sentence for each count of grand theft, to run concurrently. The court struck the sentences for the excessive taking enhancements and dismissed the remaining counts including a prior prison term allegation. Appellant was advised that a mandatory restitution fine of…