A burglar who broke into a La Jolla home, a church and six other residences was sentenced Jan. 22 to 33 years and eight months in state prison.
Christopher Richard Szumski, 33, heard El Cajon Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein impose the term, of which he will have to serve 85 percent, or 28 years, before he could be paroled.
The long sentence is due to Szumski’s two prior burglary convictions, for which he served two separate prison terms in 2000 and 2004. This made him a third-strike defendant, and he received doubled sentences consecutively for each burglary, which he had pleaded guilty to committing.
Deputy District Attorney Andrew Aguilar asked Goldstein for 37 years and eight months. Szumski could have received 25 years for each break-in.
Defense attorney Stacy Gulley told the judge that Szumski’s problems stemmed from using alcohol and drugs. Gulley maintained the burglaries were not violent felonies.
Szumski was linked to a March 12, 2014 burglary of a residence on Bellevue Avenue in La Jolla from DNA and fingerprints left on two jewelry boxes. He also broke into two buildings at St. Mary’s in the Valley Episcopal Church in Ramona on April 14, 2014. He and a 19-year-old co-defendant took a safe with cash and checks, sacramental wine, communion silver and other items.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested Szumski April 22, 2014. Goldstein ordered Szumski to pay $1,220 to two victims, including an El Cajon church. He was fined $8,373 and given credit for 274 days spent in jail.
— Neal Putnam