PORT ANGELES — A 61-year-old Port Angeles man has been sentenced to two years of community custody and in-patient drug treatment after pleading guilty to the theft of $30,927 in jewelry from his former Sequim housemate and possession of methamphetamine from a separate incident.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge George L. Wood sentenced Baldemar R. Gonzales on Thursday.
Investigators said Gonzales stole the jewelry Dec. 29, 2011, and gave some of it to three young women at a local motel.
The women were in their 20s, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Troberg said Thursday.
When one of the women asked if the jewelry was “hot” or “legit,” Gonzales told her “not to worry,” Deputy Brian Knutson wrote in the certification for probable cause.
Authorities became aware of Gonzales’ involvement in the theft when an officer overheard one of the women talking to her father about the jewelry over the phone while the woman was in jail on an unrelated charge, Troberg said.
“A lot of the jewelry was never recovered,” he added.
Gonzales originally was charged with residential burglary, first-degree theft, first-degree possession of stolen property and three counts of first-degree trafficking in stolen property.
He pleaded guilty July 30 to amended charges of second-degree theft and possession of methamphetamine as part of a plea deal.
Gonzales has several previous drug convictions from California and Oregon, court records show.
