Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 04/10/08

Contact person(s):

Media Coordinator, Donna Edwards - 565-3099 Media Spokesperson, Assistant District Attorney Christine Cook

Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California

RINCON VALLEY HOME INVASION DEFENDANTS PLEAD GUILTY AND WILL BE SENTENCED TO 29 YEARS IN PRISON

Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua announced that Jose Quiroz, 19 and Antonio Pulido, 24, both Santa Rosa residents, pleaded guilty on April 7, 2008 to charges stemming from a home invasion attempted robbery in Rincon Valley on November 27, 2007. Each defendant will receive 29 years in prison for their part in the robbery attempt.

Quiroz and Pulido along with Maximiliano Martinez, formerly of Windsor, attempted to rob individuals who had a large stash of marijuana stored in their home on Beech Avenue in Santa Rosa. When the suspects entered the home, a shoot out occurred leaving one resident wounded. That resident returned fire, killing Martinez. Quiroz and Pulido fled and were caught by Santa Rosa Police the next day. All three, Quiroz, Pulido and Martinez, are documented gang members.

The defendants each pled to a charges of assault with a semi-automatic firearm and residential burglary, and admitted sentencing enhancements for using a firearm and committing the crime for the benefit of a gang. The plea agreement calls for the maximum term for the assault charge, nine years. The firearm and gang enhancements each add an additional 10 years, while the sentence on the burglary charge will run concurrently with the others. The burglary and assault charges can both be counted as strikes in any future case.
Sentencing for Quiroz and Pulido is scheduled for May 1, 2008, in Department 14 of the Sonoma County Superior Court. As a result of their pleas, the defendants will be subject to a lifetime requirement to register as gang offenders.

Those inside the Beech Street home, who were responsible for the large amount of marijuana present, were also prosecuted and entered guilty pleas on felony drug charges.

Deputy District Attorneys Chuck Arden and David Barkhurst are the prosecutors assigned to the case.