Carver County courthouse
Posted: Monday, October 5, 2015 10:59 am
SWNewsMedia.com
A Hastings man was sentenced to prison on Sept. 30 after a jury found him guilty of second-degree burglary.
According to a press release from the Carver County Attorney’s Office, Matthew Vaught Diamond, 24, was sentenced to 51 months in prison for burglarizing a home on Bavaria Road on October 30, 2014.
According to the release, “a homeowner on Bavaria Road reported to the Chaska Police Department that after she returned home following an errand about 12 p.m. on October 30, 2014, she found that somebody forcefully kicked open her garage service door. Notably, the outside of the service door bore several shoeprints. The burglar then rifled through many rooms of the house, including dressers in the master bedroom. The burglar stole a number of items, including several pieces of distinctive, heirloom jewelry.
“While waiting for police to arrive, the homeowner found an envelope lying on the ground, about 30 feet from her garage door. The envelope was not there when the homeowner left earlier that morning. Writing on the envelope contained the name ‘Savanna W.’ In investigating the burglary, Detective Rachel Nelson learned that a Savanna W. had pawned several pieces of stolen jewelry at Pawn Exchange in Shakopee later in the day on October 30, 2014. In a subsequent interview Savanna W. stated that Diamond had used her car the day of the burglary and later asked her to pawn the jewelry for him.
“After the defendant was arrested a short time later on a non-related probation violation, police noted the tread pattern on the shoes that Diamond was wearing were consistent with the tread pattern on the kicked-in service door. Further, a subsequent search warrant on Diamond’s cell phone revealed that his cell phone was ‘pinging’ off cell phone towers near the Bavaria address at the time of the burglary. Diamond did not otherwise have any substantial contacts with Chaska.”
According to the release, Diamond’s attorney requested a non-prison sentence with probation. Prosecutor Peter Ivy argued that the “psychological trauma of having one’s home burglarized was even worse than the loss of the property itself.”
Because the defendant also has prior convictions for burglary, Judge Michael Wentzell found there was “no substantial and compelling reason to depart from the presumptive sentence of the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines, which specified a sentence of fifty-one months based on the severity of the crime and the prior criminal history score.”
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Monday, October 5, 2015 10:59 am.
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