Rossmoor Burglars Plead Guilty

A man and a woman caught in the act of breaking into a Rossmoor home last month pleaded guilty this week to a series of charges ranging from felony-attempted burglary to accessory after the fact.

On Wednesday, Brittany Early, 25, of Newport Beach changed her plea to guilty to accessory after the fact as part of a deal for 60 days of jail time, three years of probation, 30 days of physical labor supervised by the probation department and $500 in restitution paid to the Victims and Witnesses Emergency Fund, according to Farrah Emami, spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Her partner in crime, David Sutera, 34, of Huntington Beach, pleaded guilty to felony-attempted burglary in exchange for a sentence of two-years in state prison.

Perhaps it was inevitable that the two would plead guilty as Sutera was caught by the homeowner as he tried to pry his way through the front door of a Blume Drive home with a wood chisel on the morning of Jan. 23, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.  When Sutera and Early attempted to flee a pursing sheriff’s deputy, they turned down Old Ranch Parkway only to be stopped by the construction barricade for the West County Connector Freeway Project.

The incident began when a man was in his home in the 3100 block of Blume Drive heard someone trying to break in through the front door, said Lt. Bob Wren. The burglar fled, but the resident was able to jot down the burglars' license plate. He called 911 and was able to give police a good description of the silver truck that the robbers fled in, added Wren.

The victim was able to identify the suspects at the scene, Wren said. Sutera and Early were arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of burglary and possession of burglary tools. The pair allegedly used a common tactic for residential burglars. They first knocked on the door and then, when no one answered, assumed that the house was empty, Wren said.