Man gets prison term in home invasion
A man who admitted to forcing his way into a man’s home over the Fourth of July holiday weekend and robbing him at gunpoint was sentenced to more than a decade in prison and restitution Wednesday morning in Yuma County Superior Court.
Carlos Enriquez, 26, who remains in custody on a $250,000 cashonly bond, pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery in a plea agreement with prosecutors in January in order to avoid going to trial and to receive a reduced sentence.
In return for his guilty plea, two counts of aggravated assault, and one count each of armed robbery, burglary, theft of
means of transportation and theft against him were dismissed.
Enriquez appeared before Superior Court Judge David Haws, who sentenced him to 10.5 years in prison, with credit for 233 days he has already served.
“The court believes the sentence is appropriate,” Haws stated.
One of the victims in the case also addressed the court saying although he agreed to the plea deal, he didn’t think the sentence was severe enough.
He said no one should ever have to experience the trauma of someone breaking into their home waving a gun, and threatening to shoot them, their pets and loved ones.
As for the restitution, Enriquez’s attorney asked for a hearing on the amount, saying that he and the prosecution will be meeting to try and hopefully come to an agreement on how much should be paid.
Haws granted Edgar’s request and scheduled the hearing for 1:30 p.m. on March 26.
Prior to being sentenced, Enriquez read a statement to the court apologizing for what he had done, saying now he thinks about it ev- ery day and now that he is sober he knows how wrong it was.
He also said that he wanted to become a better person.
Since Enriquez was on probation when he committed the home invasion, Judge Haws ordered that the sentence he received be served concurrently to the sentence he receives for violating his probation.
According to Yuma police, officers responded to an armed robbery at 11:04 p.m. on July 3 at a home in the 1100 block of South 10th Avenue.
The victim told officers that when he answered his front door, two males forced their way inside his home after displaying a handgun.
Once inside, the men took numerous items. They then fled the scene in the victim’s vehicle. There was a second person in the home at the time, and neither reported any injuries.
The stolen vehicle was recovered in the 1700 block of 8th Avenue about 11:40 p.m., with Enriquez being taken into custody and later booked into the Yuma County Detention Center.
The second suspect, described as a male with a thin build, a shaved head and wearing a blue shirt, remains at large.