Citrus Heights man sentenced to 17 years

A 21-year-old Citrus Heights man described by a prosecutor as a “danger to society” was given a 17-year prison sentence today by a Placer County judge for burglarizing two homes and taking the victims’ vehicles, eventually crashing both of them.

Daniel Joseph Homan was given the prison time by Superior Court Judge Larry D. Gaddis, who listened to pleas from Homan and his family that the defendant did not have a history of physical violence against others.

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Homan and his parents asked the judge to send him to counseling or a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program instead of to a lengthy incarceration.

But Gaddis noted that Homan had once participated in an armed robbery by a gun-toting partner and he also said there was no indication that the burglaries and taking of cars in May and June of 2008 were committed while Homan was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

‘It doesn’t take counseling to understand that breaking into houses and taking cars is wrong,’ the judge said.

Homan was up for sentencing after he pleaded guilty on May 19 to four charges, including two counts of residential burglary, one count of possession of a stolen vehicle and one count of fleeing from an officer while driving recklessly.

Deputy District Attorney Rick Opich asked for a maximum prison sentence of 18 years and four months, saying Homan had now compiled three violent felonies on his criminal record, making him a three-strikes offender.

In addition to committing the burglaries in which the victims were inside the homes sleeping, Homan, while fleeing from authorities in a stolen car, came upon a vehicle stopped at a red light in Roseville and pushed the vehicle into the intersection to continue his flight from the law, Opich said.

When Homan, who was carrying four passengers in the car, came to a dead-end street, he smashed through the barrier, went down an embankment and the car plunged into a creek bed, where the vehicle caught fire, Opich said.

Homan was caught as he then tried to run away.

‘He put himself and his four passengers at risk,’ Opich said. ‘He shows a willful, wanton disregard for the safety of others.’

The prosecutor also said Homan has continually violated rules in the Placer County Jail, where he has been an inmate.

‘He’s demonstrated an inability to obey any rules – either on the street or the jail,’ Opich said.

In imposing the prison sentence, Judge Gaddis also ordered Homan to make restitution totaling $1,704 to the victims whose cars were taken and to pay another $1,800 to a state restitution fund.