Escondido burglars sent to prison

On December 5, Antonio Gabriel Amador, 18, and Brandon Douglas Martinez, 20, were both sentenced to seven years in state prison for burglary and robbery. In their plea deals, four other felonies were dismissed for each man, and custody for trailing criminal matters will be served concurrently with the new sentences.

Amador and Martinez were accused of a crime spree in Escondido the night of August 21, 2013. A little after midnight, a woman on Kenora Place awoke to find two men with baseball bats in her home. When she called for her husband, the men fled.

Soon after, a person a few blocks away was robbed of his bicycle.

Next, a woman observed two strangers in her neighborhood trying doors. She yelled at them to leave when they approached her home, but one of them bashed in the windshield of her parked car with a baseball bat. Escondido police said the descriptions of those perpetrators and their getaway car matched Amador and Martinez.

The crime spree was halted about 2:30 a.m., after a woman named Ashley was awakened in her home by her dog. She discovered two men in her home — one armed with a baseball bat and another with a crowbar. Ashley called for her two male roommates; one man is in the Navy and one recently retired from the Navy.

The Navy men used their fists and chairs and a metal candle holder against the armed intruders, according to investigators. Ashley said she wrestled with the man who had the crowbar; the intruder left it behind when both burglars retreated via the living-room window, through which they had entered the home.

“We kept our window open 'cause our air conditioner is broken and it was hot,” said Ashley, who also served in the Navy.

The burglars left behind their baseball cap, shoes, blood, and other evidence, according to reports.

Amador and Martinez were apprehended when they went to Palomar Medical Center for treatment of head wounds.

A probation report stated that Martinez’s criminal record began when he was 14 years old, with residential burglary and grand theft. When he was 15, there was a graffiti conviction; when he was 16, more burglary; when he was 17, there was a petty theft and a DUI.

Amador began his criminal career at age 15, with grand theft and battery, according to a probation report. The next year, he was convicted of vehicle theft and burglary. When he was 17 years old, he was accused of participating in gang activities in Sacramento, plus having a stolen vehicle.

The men made plea deals on November 4 and were sentenced to prison on December 5.  Judge David Berry also ordered each man to pay more than $3900 restitution to their victims.