A Kern County judge has sentenced Mauro Nain Zepeda Gonzalez to two years in prison for breaking into an East Bakersfield home while a 14-year-old girl was inside, hiding in her bedroom as she listened to him move through the house. The sentencing closes out a case that began with a quiet morning interrupted by the sound of someone rifling through the kitchen.
Kern County District Attorney's Office spokesperson Daniela Gonzaga reported the sentence and the underlying conviction, according to KGET 17 News. A Kern County jury had found Zepeda Gonzalez guilty of first-degree residential burglary last month, delivering the verdict on Sept. 16, according to BakersfieldNow. The jury also found true a special allegation that a victim was present during the break-in, a factor that can add weight at sentencing.
A Teen Alone, a Stranger in the Kitchen
The case traces back to the morning of Feb. 16, when Zepeda Gonzalez entered the East Bakersfield home, prosecutors said. The 14-year-old girl inside told officers the kitchen table had been clean when she checked it about five minutes before she started hearing noises, prosecutors said, per the station's report. She assumed, at first, that an intruder was simply eating in her kitchen.
The sounds did not stay confined to one room. The girl heard the intruder moving through the kitchen, hallway and bathroom before he approached her bedroom, prosecutors said. When her door began to open, she pushed it shut and blocked him from getting inside, according to prosecutors' account of the incident.
Officers Arrive to a Ransacked Kitchen
Police were called to the home, and officers arriving at the residence found Zepeda Gonzalez standing in the kitchen within minutes, prosecutors said. The kitchen table told its own story by then: food, beverages and condiment items were strewn across it, a stark contrast to the clean surface the teen had checked just minutes earlier. He was taken into custody on the spot after officers located him inside the house.
Burglary of an occupied residence is charged under California's first-degree burglary statute, codified in Penal Code 460, which builds on the broader burglary definition laid out in Penal Code 459. Those statutes distinguish residential burglaries, like this one, from break-ins at commercial or unoccupied properties, and the presence of a person inside the home during the offense can carry added legal consequences.
Other Cases Still Pending
Court records show Zepeda Gonzalez has pending misdemeanor cases separate from the burglary conviction, including charges of battery on a peace officer and possession of drug paraphernalia. Those matters remain open even as his two-year prison sentence in the burglary case has now been handed down.
