Burglary suspect sentenced to prison
The man who was pulled from an A/C vent where he was found hiding by Yuma police, with the assistance of a K-9 officer, was sentenced to a term of prison Wednesday in Yuma County Superior Court.
Under the terms of a plea agreement he pleaded guilty to in January, Richard Morales Alejandre was sentenced by Superior Court Judge David Haws to five years in prison for trafficking in stolen property.
Judge Haws also gave Alejandre credit for 204 days previously served prior to his sentencing. He was represented by attorney Mike Politi, of the Yuma County Legal Defenders Office.
The incident in which Alejandre was arrested in August 2017, when an officer was dispatched to the 3900 block of West 22nd Lane for a report of a suspicious vehicle.
Once on scene, the officer was able to locate the vehicle, a silver 2005 Buick LeSabre, and when he ran a license plate check on the vehicle, it came back that the vehicle had been reported stolen on July 30.
The officer also saw a male subject, which was Alejandre, get out of the vehicle and run into a nearby apartment.
A perimeter was set up and announcements were made advising everyone inside to come out of the apartment. After a while, several subjects came out of the residence, telling officers that someone was still inside.
Alejandre, the person who was still inside, was then given repeated warnings to come out of the apartment or a K-9 would be sent in, but he refused to comply.
Eventually officers made entry into the apartment and the K-9 gave an indication to the presence of an odor from the A/C return.
When Alejandre refused to obey commands to give up and would not show his hands, a K-9 was sent into the vent to apprehend him, at which time he was pulled out and taken into custody.
The K-9, a Dutch Shepherd named Raiko, was also injured in the incident and was later treated by a veterinarian. Raiko sustained a cut going into the A/C duct.
Inside the vehicle, which had been reported stolen, were missing items that had been reported stolen from previous burglaries.
This is not the first time Alejandre has tried to avoid apprehension by running into a building and refusing to surrender. In March of 2015 he was arrested by deputies from the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office after they found him hiding in the walls of a church in the Foothills.