The man accused last spring of being the Valencia Summit prowler was sentenced to 180 days in jail after pleading no contest to petty theft and two counts of prowling.
Christopher Thomas Marchetti, 28, appeared in courtroom 2 of the Santa Clarita Courthouse less than two weeks ago to face misdemeanor charges of petty theft and trespassing in relation to incidents that allegedly occurred in the residential neighborhood of Valencia Summit.
“He pleaded no contest to petty theft and two counts of prowling, all misdemeanors, on Aug. 30,” Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office told The Signal Monday.
He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, court documents show.
Marchetti – arrested seven times in the last two years – appeared in court locally more than half a dozen times since his latest arrest.
Deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station arrested him initially on suspicion of petty theft and trespassing.
“On March 13, a Valencia resident on the 24000 block of Tossano Drive reported the theft of a lockbox containing a key,” Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station told The Signal at the time.
“The male suspect was captured by the homeowner’s surveillance camera, and his image was widely circulated throughout social media community groups,” she said.
“Patrol deputies and detectives worked together, and on Saturday (March 18), five days after the reported crime, arrested suspect Christopher Marchetti,” Miller said.
Deputies made the arrest after a video image of the suspect was widely circulated in the press and on social media.
Marchetti was suspected of being the prowler who, in the dead of night, stole a lock box containing a key after trying to force his way into an occupied home in Valencia Summit.
He was seen trying to break into at least two homes in the Valencia Summit neighborhood, according to one Valencia Summit homeowner who went public with the suspect’s image in an effort to identify him.
Valencia Summit is a neighborhood north of McBean Parkway, east of Rockwell Canyon Road across from College of the Canyons and south of Valencia Boulevard.
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