Woman Sentenced For Stealing a Single Pack of Cigarettes in an Armed Robbery
Facebook post from the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office:
With a jury trial scheduled to get underway Monday, defendant [Removed] waived her trial rights and plead no contest to robbery in the second degree, a felony.
On Friday, [Removed] also admitted a sentencing enhancement charged by the DA alleging that she used a firearm in the commission of the robbery. If the admitted firearm sentencing enhancement is left in place, the defendant’s state prison exposure for the robbery is 12, 13, or 15 years.[Removed]
was charged with the July, 2020 robbery of the Sinclair Gas convenience store in south Willits.
Captured on the store’s surveillance camera, [Removed] entered the store and went into the store’s restroom. When she came out of the restroom, she had a handgun drawn. She pointed the firearm at the clerk and demanded cigarettes. [Removed] left after being given a pack of cigarette. The clerk immediately called 911.
When the defendant was located and arrested, she did not have the firearm in her possession. Willits Police officers backtracked the route she would have taken after leaving the store. They found an unlocked vehicle with an open door parked just south of Sinclair Gas. The defendant’s firearm had been stashed inside this car.
After the change of plea was entered into the record, the defendant’s matter was referred to the Adult Probation Department for a background investigation and sentencing recommendation.[Removed]
, who remains in custody, is scheduled to be sentenced 9 a.m. Dec. 18, 2020 at the Ukiah courthouse. Because the defendant used a firearm in the course of the robbery, the law requires that she be sentenced to state prison unless the sentencing judge overrides the DA’s charging discretion and the defendant’s own admission, and strikes the firearm enhancement “in the interests of justice.”
Willits Police Department was the investigating law enforcement agency. The prosecutor was District Attorney David Eyster.
“My prosecutors and I understand that our neighbors and business friends have no tolerance for and have a right to be protected from robbers — especially those armed with guns — who threaten to do grievous harm to hard-working night clerks and other citizens here in Mendocino County,” said Eyster.
“I hope the court also understands this and sends the right message on the 18th that robbers brandishing firearms should not expect nor receive unearned leniency.”
Superior Court Judge Carly Dolan will sentence [Removed].
UPDATE April 7, 2024: The person formerly named in this post has had the charges dismissed from her record. She states she did not have a firearm.
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🕯🌳Damn all over a pack of cigarettes. 🖖🖖
This is why we need treatment centers instead of jails. A little help like that would make her a helpful member of society.
Not instead. We need both.
A trearment center will not help gang members. A treatment center will not help a sereal murderer who finds pleasure in killing.
Jaill will not help a junkie. Jail will not help the mentally ill.
Its a 2 way street. This idea of a society without jail is a marxist pipe dream.
Well put. [edit] well put. We need BOTH.
Or……. People can be responsible for their actions!
agreed. It is sad to see increase in numbers of mentally ill incarcerated, not because of their condition but due to the need to protect them. Jail is no place for the mentally ill. I would like to see a place for the study and treatment for the mentally ill here on the North coast. Napa is inadequate in size for todays demands.
I understand your perception that this person is mentally ill however, if that is the case, why did her lawyer not request an evaluation?
The court did hear and except her guilty plea including the use of a handgun.
Does that not indicate conscience intent?
Junkies’ don’t quit using until they are ready. Mandated treatment is worthless. What about their victims? Do you ever think of them? She was willing to kill someone over a pack of cigarettes’ How about making prison someplace that people go for punishment’s instead of day care. Someplace they have to work 40 hours a week instead of lay on the bunks and watch free cable tv all day at taxpayers expense?
If they are so mentally ill they do this kind of think due to illness alone then they should be locked in a mental ward for life.
being mentally ill is not a crime. Yes mentally ill people do commit crimes, unfortunately they receive minimal treatment and then sent back out to self medicate while roaming the streets. They themselves are often victims of crime and abuse. Family members don’t want to deal with them. Cities and counties don’t know how to deal with them. So they are often pushed to the side and forgotten about until tragedy happens.
And that is why i said she should be put someplace for life. It is fir her saftey as much as the public. Not prison a mental health place.
You are assuming she was willing to kill someone over that pack of cigarettes, something we don’t know. I say this not out of defence of the woman, but defence of the truth. Assumptions are dangerous.
Dumb logic.
Someone who points a gun at me will get hurt, or I’ll get shot. There’s absolutely no time to fantasize over the gunman’s mind. Every gun is loaded and ready to shoot me unless I take defensive action.
Don’t take your guns to town, please.
When a firearm is drawn, all bets are off. It is no time to ponder the users intentions. You assume they will kill you if you dont deliver what they demand. So anytime a firearm is presented/brandished/used in the commission of a crime, the punishment should be severe. Contrary to what Hollywood teaches you, firearms are no joke.
And someone please tell me again why Wade Harris wasn’t kept in jail?
Because he’s dead!
We all know why….its been said many of times.
He was in jail for months before Covid. Once the rules changed he petitioned to get out and they couldn’t refuse
Lock that crazy bish up.
You clearly have a resentment.
shes got a terrible lawyer to agree to something like that.
Thank you for saying that very obvious truth.
But… everyone trafficking heroin into Humboldt gets to go home with a slap on the wrist? … awesome.
When she brandished the gun, she created a situation where innocent people could very easily get killed or permanently disabled. She wasn’t seeking cash to buy drugs. Addiction didn’t cause her to use a gun to strong arm a pack of smokes. What if it was your/my son or daughter working that shift to support their family when this f..ked- up person pulls a gun out over cigarettes. 15 years? Seems fair to me…
She does not understand the concept of Return on Investment (ROI). Just take a basic business course for petes sake.
I’m pretty sure someone would have traded her an entire carton of cigarettes for a firearm.
Right?! If the government wants to get some guns back off the streets maybe they should do a cigarette exchange program for them?
Ironically, for some reason they stopped allowing buy back programs to pay people actual cash. They now only give gift cards to grocery stores. It seems to have significantly reduced the lure of gun buy backs.
Was the gun even loaded…? What she did was wrong, I agree. But a gun is only a deadly weapon when it’s loaded. Had she brandished a knife, would the sentence be the same? A knife is just as deadly and always loaded… Just sayin’! Other than that, what a dumb*ss, for a pack of smokes! That much effort, she should have at least gone for a whole carton of smokes!
When a firearm is drawn, all bets are off. It is no time to ponder the users intentions. You assume they will kill you if you dont deliver what they demand. So anytime a firearm is presented/brandished/used in the commission of a crime, the punishment should be severe. Contrary to what Hollywood teaches you, firearms are no joke.
When you’re Jonesin’ you’re Jonesin’!
Maybe her life is just so hopeless that she doesn’t care what it takes to get a smoke. We have to somehow ease wealth inequity.
We have a very large mental illness, homeless, addiction problem in Calif.
Lets see?
$63 billion for the bullet train
Or
Spend $300,000 per person for homeless, mentally ill, addicts
You do the math Einstein.
Too many problem people and not enough cash to throw at it.
Now THAT’S a nicotine fit!!
She’s probably happy now. Winter is here and she now has 3 hots and a cot.
I had recently met lily as she asked to be called. I found her to be a “rather hot mess”. Though I spent but a few brief evenings and a single morning with her I was very sad to hear of this. I had tried to get her to sleep more often. And was often feeding her for the first time in a day or three… she was a good soul. I am not sure what her story was because she was often feeling very threatened. Though she spoke of having children a time or two. I intend on keeping a pen pal sort of friendship with her. The girl literally had the clothes on her back because of myself and a close friend. She should be disciplinedone for sure. But I feel like 14 years is a bit much for someone who is so spirited. And very much talented with dance and music and life. I hope someday to sit with her behind browns corner and drink wine again.
This is a case of mental illness and incompetent unethical legal counseling. An insanity plea would have been Justice served but apparently her attorney has no clue as to what constitutes competent defense. Mendocino Co.
is possibly the worst county in the entire State when it comes public defense. This case being epitome of how bad it can really get. She had a godd***ed airsoft pistol !! Complete w the blatant orange plastic slug stuck in the barrel!! I hope the Judge sees through Eyster’s witchhunt and makes the right call and helps this woman get the help she needs.
Just for the record, it was an airsoft gun, and she was suffering from homelessness and mental health issues related to postpartum and substance abuse. She has completed an inpatient treatment program and is continuing treatment through an outpatient program. She has enrolled in school to complete her degrees in kinesiology and pre physical therapy to transfer to a university for a master’s in physical therapy. She is continuing her recovery and doing everything in her power to repay society for her wrongs done. She is a loving mother that is working as hard as she can to be reunited with her children. She is a human being that deserves love and chance at a good life just like every other human has the right to. Be kind and compassionate and stay open minded because sometimes people are suffering from more than it appears and making uneducated assumptions and harsh judgments is the root of injustice and the cause of so much sadness in this world. Try and love a little more. Be blessed.