Two Kennewick men were each sentenced to 40 days in jail for breaking into a number of parked cars last summer and stealing items like electronics, ID badges and a carseat.
David Delgado, 35, and Jimmy Thomas Riojas Cuellar, 24, are allowed to do the time in the Benton County jail on either work crew or work release if eligible, a judge said.
The men got the same sentence in two separate Benton County Superior Court cases but can serve it all at once. However, in one case, they were given 324 days suspended, meaning they could be ordered to do more time if they violate any conditions of the sentence.
Delgado and Cuellar each pleaded guilty Dec. 15 to second-degree possession of stolen property and second-degree vehicle prowling in one case, and third-degree theft in another case.
Court documents show that Delgado and Cuellar went to the Kennewick Walmart on June 26 and picked up several goods, including a flat-screen TV and beer. Delgado purchased the items using a credit card that had been taken from Shelley Kim's car, and signed the receipt "G. Gomez."
The men later drank the beer, and Cuellar kept the TV, documents said.
Then on Aug. 21, a resident in the 6200 block of West First Avenue called Kennewick police about a car prowl in progress. The man told a 911 dispatcher that he could see someone in his 2006 Toyota Avalon with a flashlight.
Officers responded to the resident's call, and a short time later contacted three men in a silver Toyota Corolla near the Pub Tavern in Kennewick. They reportedly matched the victim's description.
At the time, police had been investigating a series of vehicle prowls where the suspected vehicle looked like the Toyota that Delgado, Cuellar and Jeffrey P. Maddux were stopped in, court documents said. Police also had received reports on those cases that several people were present during the thefts.
Officers had seen the three men together in the Toyota before the vehicle prowl report on First Avenue and after, documents said.
Police said the apparent stolen property clearly could be seen inside the car.
After getting a search warrant for the Toyota, officers found items stolen in a number of vehicle prowls, including several iPods and car stereos, a Cobra radar unit, a large speaker box, a DVD screen, a car seat and a Garmin GPS. They also seized numerous items that belonged to the First Avenue victim, like an identification badge for his job, court documents said.
The stolen property was valued at $3,500 total, police said then.
Delgado, Cuellar and Maddux -- who police then identified as being linked to six car prowls -- were all arrested and booked into jail.
Maddux, 24, faces a Feb. 6 trial on the same possession of stolen property and vehicle prowling charges.
Delgado and Cuellar must pay a total restitution of $821.30 in the stolen credit card case, and $1,090.36 for the vehicle prowls.
