By Jake Romero and Nora Dahl
MODESTO, CA — Two cases involving vehicular crime charges proceeded Monday at the Main Courthouse / Stanislaus County Superior Court—in one, the court accepted one man’s no contest plea to vehicle burglary, but there was frustration concerning “unreasonable” delays in another man’s pretrial.
Monserrate Rosado appeared in Stanislaus County Superior Court before Judge Dawna Reeves on Jan. 24 with a criminal felony charge. Rosado pleaded no contest, accepting 190 days in jail with two years of probation.
Rosado’s defense, Assistant Public Defender Reed Wagner, demanded two modifications be made to his client’s probation term: the first being moving Rosado’s probation sentence to his home of San Joaquin County from that of Stanislaus.
Second, the defense counsel asked for the postponement of Rosado’s surrender to four months because the man has an ill family member that he must situate before his impending incarceration. 
Judge Reeves accepted these modifications, under the agreement that Rosado will comply with the terms of his probation.
Judge Reeves stated the evidence, against Rosado, that would’ve been presented in the case of a preliminary hearing, “On October 21, 2021, in Modesto, California county of Stanislaus officers of the Modesto Police Department were alerted to a pair of individuals committing vehicle burglaries throughout San Joaquin County.”
Judge Reeves declared that “Stanislaus County officers observed codefendant Monserrate Rosado and an additional codefendant breaking into several cars that were parked in the Olive Garden parking lot and other nearby in Stanislaus County Modesto, California and moving items from those vehicles.”
Judge Reeves then pointed out that these vehicles were all, in fact, locked. She looked at both Rosado and Wagner, asking them to stipulate the rational and factual basis to Rosado’s felony charge.
Both of the men agreed, muttering, “Yes” in unison.
With this confirmation in mind, Judge Reeves went on to further discuss the terms of Rosado’s probation saying that, if violated, Rosado may face the maximum three-year sentence for second degree burglary.
The judge also decreed that Rosado must pay a state restitution fund fine, the full amount undisclosed at this time. It was ordered that Rosado must relinquish any possession of firearms for the remainder of his life. Rosado’s conviction could also be used against him in court, in the event that he is ever charged for another crime in the future.
Upon the request of Judge Reeves, Rosado asserted that he understood his charges, and had no objection to any part of his sentence.
Judge Reeves ended the hearing with the declaration that Rosado must surrender himself to serve his time before June 30, 2022, and stay away from the location of his burglaries in the meantime.
Rosado was then released on terms of probation.
Judge Won’t Wait for More Evidence: In another case in front of Judge Reeves, Deputy District Attorney Angela Russell requested more time to review supplemental information for a case involving two counts of vehicle theft. Judge Reeves had previously granted additional time at the man’s last hearing on Dec. 27, 2021.
NOTE: The name of the accused was not readily available.
The prosecution aimed to elevate the charges to include counts of identity theft but had not received the supplemental police report until this morning, according to DDA Russell. She claimed the reporting officer needed to interview a “significant” number of potential victims which caused the delay.
Judge Reeves said the case had lingered at pretrial status for too long without any plea offers—Monday was the third pretrial hearing.
“I don’t want to wait for law enforcement. This is an unreasonable amount of time,” said Judge Reeves. “It’s not helpful for the court if law enforcement is not going to cooperate with you and get you their information quickly when someone is in custody.”
Judge Reeves said additional charges can be filed during the final pretrial hearing on Feb. 24. A preliminary hearing will commence the following week.
