By Julian Navarro
SACRAMENTO – Roberto Guzman doesn’t like cameras—he objected to livestreaming at his preliminary hearing last week in Sacramento County Superior Court, and later it was learned a camera caught him stealing.
Judge Kevin J. McCormick noted to the defendant, facing theft charges, that the court needed to have public access because people have the right to see public trials.
The prosecutor outlined details of the case, including that, in July of last year, Guzman was seen outside Love Laundry in Sacramento in his vehicle as he walked out of his vehicle and approached the victim’s vehicle.
The victim had just entered his business Love Laundry and left his vehicle unlocked. As the victim was gone, the defendant took the victim’s backpack from the vehicle of the victim.
Sacramento Police Officer Jared Robinet testified the victim left his vehicle at his business but came back he remembered that he left his car unlocked. As that time, Guzman drove up and took items that belonged to the owner of the vehicle.
According to the victim, he stated to the officer that his backpack was stolen, which contained a laptop which cost $1,800 and a firearm that cost $1,300. There was video surveillance of the incident.
Officer Robinet said video surveillance caught the face of the defendant and the defendant’s vehicle with his California license plate attached to the vehicle. Robinet did a background check on the vehicle and found a master file that showed that vehicle was just sold to Guzman.
During the cross-examination of the witness, Assistant Public Defender Joni O’Connor asked Robinet if he saw the defendant take any items out of the vehicle during the surveillance video.
The response was no.
O’Conner asked the officer if the victim’s statement said that all the items that were taken by the suspect were in the backpack, the officer replied yes.
After this incident Officer Robinet never contacted or searched the defendant’s home.
The next dates for this case are on Feb. 4, 2021, for arraignment and Feb. 15, 2021 for a jury trial.
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“According to the victim, he stated to the officer that his backpack was stolen, which contained a laptop which cost $1,800 and a firearm that cost $1,300. ”
The victim had a concealed weapon in the backpack?