The Central District of California sentenced a Pomona man, who stole a military Humvee from the Upland Army Reserve Center, to 34 months in prison Dec. 2.
Armando Garcia, 30, pleaded guilty to theft of government property in excess of $1,000 Aug. 19.
Garcia stole the Humvee, which had a turret mount, at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 9, 2020. He made it six miles from the base before local police spotted him and attempted to pull him over. Garcia evaded police for four minutes, driving on the wrong side of the street, before surrendering himself in front of his Kingsley Avenue, Pomona, house, according to the complaint.
“Mr. Garcia’s reason for taking it was a juvenile desire to simply drive the car. He wanted to see what it was like to drive a Humvee,” his public defender wrote. “While it involved more planning to get onto the National Guard Armory than stealing one from the street, there was very little thought or sophistication to his act.”
Garcia had been in the San Bernardino County Jail for most of the year following the theft, the public defender wrote, and used that time to reflect on his need for sobriety and new associations.
Garcia was on parole following a 2019 conviction in state court for theft and burglary charges, according to the attorney general’s office.
Parties
Federal Public Defender Cuauhtemoc Ortego and Deputy Federal Public Defender Nadine Hettle represented Garcia.
Assistant United States Attorney Juan Rodríguez prosecuted.
US Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue presided.
Case number: 2:20-cr-00589-JAK
Read the complaint here.
