28-year-old Francisco Balladares Chavez had a complaint filed against him on Nov 5, 2013 for two felony counts of second degree burglary under California Penal Codes 459-460 (b).
Chavez’s new charges stem from the San Jose Police responding to a report of a person having stolen several items from a storage facility located at 2220 Canoas Garden Ave in San Jose on October 15 and 17. Chavez was seen on video footage entering the premises during these separate dates. Using a bolt cutter, Chavez broke into two separate storage units and loaded the contents of the containers into his vehicle. Video surveillance provided to San Jose Investigators by the Assistant Manager helped identify Chavez as the suspect. A records search of Chavez revealed that he was on active CDC Parole.
The Assistant Manager explained that Chavez had paid for the storage unit H069 about the time of the thefts. Witnesses reported seeing Chavez moving items into his vehicle, but they had never seen him use his storage space. Items stolen from the storage units included one bike frame, one snowboard, a crate, a large bundle of tarp, three horse saddles, one 3’ high pedestal, and one large picture.
Chavez also faces additional penalties under the law under the provisions of California PC 667 (b) – (i)/1170.12, which increase the terms for repeat offenders. Chavez has a prior conviction of rape by a foreign object under PC 289(a) (1). Other charges under the conviction encompass kidnapping under PC 207 – Criminal threats under PC 422, and that of an attempt to dissuade a witness under PC 136.1. The elements of the crime reflected a violent assault under PC 667.5(c)/1192.7 (c), and involving false imprisonment under PC 236-237. The conviction is considered a serious strike offence. Before the burglaries occurred, Chavez was recently released from County Jail on October 4 after charges of a parole violation. He is expected to appear in Dept 35 on January 10 at 9:00 AM for plea.
The Santa Clara DA’s 3K Committee, or Three Strike Committee, is reducing this to a “Two Strike Case”. According the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office, “his max exposure is 7 years 4 months, and not life. Under the strike law, a person can be sentenced to double what the original sentence would be for the current crime.” Under the three strikes law Chavez’s prior strike convictions were the resulted of a single incident, consolidated as one strike prior. The SCDA’s Office considers this latest occurance “neither serious nor violent”.
Photo by Amy Nilson
