Elderly woman heard shattering glass, found burglar walking through her home

A 71-year-old Modesto man with a lengthy criminal conviction history has been sentenced to 35 years to life in prison for breaking into an elderly woman's home before she told him to leave.

James Orlando Lucero's prior felony convictions made him eligible to be sentenced in accordance with the state's "Three Strikes" law, the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday afternoon.

The defendant has been convicted six times for committing home burglaries, including his most recent break-in on Sept. 7, 2015, in Stanislaus County.

The 80-year-old woman was home alone taking a nap, when the sound of shattering glass woke her. Prosecutors said the woman walked out of her bedroom to find Lucero walking through her home.

She was frightened, and she told him to leave. Lucero left the home, prosecutors said. Investigators later identified him as the suspected burglar. He was arrested and criminally charged. A jury on June 9 found Lucero guilty of residential burglary for the 2015 break-in.

Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Robert Westbrook late last month denied Lucero’s motion for a new trial and a defense request to not consider his previous felony convictions during sentencing. Deputy District Attorney Dina Petrushenko prosecuted the case.

Prosecutors said Lucero’s criminal career began in 1969, including three home burglaries in Utah and three others in California.

Because of his previous convictions, Lucero had been sentenced to life in prison for drug possession in 2008. But that prison sentence was reduced to six years in 2012 after California voters approved Proposition 36.

Prosecutors said Lucero broke into the elderly woman's home in September 2015, shortly after his latest release from prison. On Thursday, Lucero was being housed at North Kern State Prison in Delano.

This story was originally published January 5, 2018 at 2:50 PM with the headline "Elderly woman heard shattering glass, found burglar walking through her home."