By Samuel Van Blaricom
WOODLAND, CA – Judge Daniel Maguire at Yolo County Superior Court has decided that there was enough evidence to go forward in the case against Luke Scoggins—Scoggins is facing a number of felony charges while on probation, including burglary and grand theft of a firearm for events that occurred in June.
According to testimony provided by Detective Michael Moore at the preliminary hearing last Friday, Scoggins allegedly broke into the room of his girlfriend’s grandparents, who were on vacation at the time and having their granddaughter watch their home.
He was allegedly dating her at the time, which is how Detective Moore said Scoggins had access to the house.
As reported by Officer Leo Gonzales, Scoggins took two wedding rings, a set of collector’s coins, a Springfield long rifle, two Winchester long rifles, a 20-gauge single-shot shotgun, a 22 caliber Beretta and a Stern Ruger.
“He said that he used the coins for gas money, and that he sold the firearms for money so that he could buy drugs,” testified Detective Moore.
The estimated total that all he received for all of the firearms except the shotgun was $1,000, said authorities.
Detective Moore said that he suggested to Scoggins that he write a letter of apology to the family, after he expressed his remorse about the situation and emotionally hurting the family in a statement to Detective Moore.
“I said that sometimes an apology letter is something meaningful to the victims of these types of crimes,” said Detective Moore, recounting the circumstances of the letter.
When asked by Deputy District Attorney Matthew De Moura if he read the letter, Detective Moore said that he did and that it mostly concerned how Scoggins felt that he violated the family’s trust.
“He was expressing his remorse for violating [the granddaughter’s] trust and the trust of the family for doing what he had done,” said Detective Moore.
Scoggins was initially linked to the crime with physical evidence by Probation Officer Zach Kalish, who found the shotgun in his room along with stolen ammunition.
They identified the weapon as belonging to the victims because of a repair that was made to the wooden stock of the shotgun with a wood that had a lighter stain than the rest of the gun.
In total, Scoggins is being charged with one count of burglary, one count of grand theft, two counts of grand theft of a firearm, possession of a firearm and ammunition by a person previously convicted of a felony, and an allegation for violation of probation.
The prosecutor initially charged him with a misdemeanor possession of methamphetamine, but dropped the charge at the preliminary hearing and did not provide any evidence for it.
Scoggins was on supervised probation after a felony conviction for possession of an assault weapon in 2020.
After all evidence was presented, Deputy Public Defender Richard Van Zandt told Judge Maguire that the offer made by the District Attorney’s Office has been rejected, and that they wish to send the case to trial.
The next hearing date will be an arraignment on information in Dept. 5 on Dec. 2, before selecting trial dates.
