SANTA ROSA, Calif. – A Santa Rosa man convicted of a string of burglaries that stretched across four counties, including Lake, has been sentenced to 31 years in prison by a Sonoma County judge.

Monty Allen Mullins, 46, received the sentence this week from Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Dana Simonds, according to a report from the office of Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch.

On Oct. 27, 2011, Mullins entered guilty pleas to five residential burglaries, possession of stolen property, and possession of a stolen vehicle.

In addition, Mullins admitted that he had a prior conviction for residential burglary, which is a strike offense, and also admitted that he committed two of the residential burglaries while out on bail in four pending cases.

“This defendant has proven that imprisonment is the only way to keep him from victimizing people and burglarizing their homes,” Ravitch said. “Numerous victims have had to cope with the violation of the sanctity of their homes. Particularly striking is the impact on elder victims who lost a lifetime’s worth of sentimental personal belongings. I commend the cooperative investigative efforts by multiple law enforcement agencies that lead to this defendant’s apprehension and significant sentence.”

This case was investigated by the Santa Rosa Police Department, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, the Calistoga Police Department and the Novato Police Department.

The crimes in this matter spanned from Sonoma County into Napa, Lake and Marin counties, Ravitch's office reported.

In late 2009, Mullins was linked by fingerprint evidence to a residential burglary of a home owned by an elderly couple and located in the Oakmont retirement community, just outside of Santa Rosa.

When he was arrested for the Oakmont burglary, Mullins was in possession of stolen property and a window-punch burglary tool, which stolen property had been removed from a window-smash car burglary hours before Mullins’ arrest.

Ravitch's office reported that Mullins posted bail on the Oakmont residential burglary case and, on Sept. 3, 2010, while out on bail, was arrested after found fleeing from a residential burglary in Windsor, in a vehicle which had been stolen from a residential burglary in Novato days before, according to the district attorney's report.

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at Mullins’ home that evening and found Mullins’ girlfriend allegedly wearing jewelry from the Novato residential burglary.

In addition, Mullins’ girlfriend was arrested days later at a pawn shop in Santa Rosa while allegedly carrying a bag full of coins, also stolen from the residential burglary in Novato.

Further investigation revealed that Mullins and his co-defendant, Joseph Greathouse, had attempted to burglarize a residence in Sonoma on the evening of Aug. 29, 2010, but fled once contact was made with one of the occupants living at the residence.

Another occupant of the home was able to provide a license plate number of the getaway vehicle, which was found to be registered to Mullins’ daughter.

Video surveillance taken earlier that day at the Twin Pine Casino in Middletown showed Mullins and Greathouse leaving the casino in that same car, after attempting to use an elderly couple’s credit card that had been stolen during a residential burglary of the elderly couple’s Calistoga home earlier that same day.

He again posted bail and, on Feb. 8, 2011, was arrested after he was caught burglarizing two more homes in the Rincon Valley area of Santa Rosa.

Mullins, who was caught in the act by the elderly homeowner’s adult sons, ran from the first residence into another residence, where he committed another residential burglary before being apprehended by the Santa Rosa Police Department.

Officials said Mullins has been in custody since Feb. 8, 2011, with bail specially set at $2 million.

The lead investigators in this case were Sonoma County Sheriff’s Detective Perry Sparkman and Santa Rosa Police Detective Brett Siwy. Deputy District Attorney Robin Hammond was the prosecutor assigned to the case.

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