A man who distracted a 96-year-old Springs woman while his two accomplices robbed her house is going to the state pen for five years.
Tommy Mitchell, 29, of Oakland, was sentenced this week for the July 2017 crime. He had pled no contest in May to residential burglary with an enhancement for committing the crime against an elder adult.
At the sentencing hearing, the victim’s daughter urged the court to put Mitchell in state prison, describing how the crime took away her mother’s sense of security inside a home she had lived in for 79 years.
Mitchell and two co-defendants broke into the home along Highway 12. While Mitchell distracted the elderly woman in her backyard, where he had led her under the guise of discussing landscaping, the other men entered the home and removed a safe and other belongings.
The getaway was seen and reported by two Mary’s Pizza employees from across the street. Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputies apprehended the three men within city limits with the victim’s property inside their car.
“To deliberately target the elderly for financial gain, particularly in their homes, is really unconscionable,” said District Attorney Jill Ravitch. “Thanks to the good Samaritans, this thief was apprehended and will serve a term in state prison. This case serves as an important reminder for all of us to keep an eye out for our neighbors.”
I commented originally when these arrests were made on how important it is that we watch out for each other. The police cannot be everywhere. I want to let those Mary’s employees know that the community deeply appreciates what they did that day. They could have turned their backs and gone about their business but instead chose to get involved. People who victimize the elderly are a special breed and these employees undoubtedly saved other senior citizens from the same fate. Thank you.