People v. Fontillas CA3

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

The prosecution presented evidence of eight burglaries and three attempted burglaries in Sacramento and Elk Grove between September 2009 and March 2010. Police stopped defendant, who was driving a vehicle reportedly seen by victims, on March 10, 2010. Defendant had sold or given many of the stolen items to his coworkers at the Sacramento County Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, where he was gainfully employed as a supervisor earning $8,000 monthly. The jury heard evidence of the residential burglaries, in each of which the victims testified they arrived home to find forced entry, ransacked homes, and missing items, including computers and other electronics, jewelry, and cameras. In two of the burglaries, the victims arrived home in time to see a man outside their home who claimed to be checking on a sewage problem in the neighborhood. One victim identified defendant as that man at trial, while another noted the resemblance but did not give a positive identification. The victims in the three attempted burglaries testified that defendant or a man resembling him, wearing an orange vest, rang the doorbell. One victim opened the door. The man asked if her…