L.A. County Superior Court Judge Bernie LaForteza sentenced a man to seven years in prison in a plea deal to charges over a violent, armed break-in at his ex-girlfriend’s Saugus home back in May, which happened while children were present.
Daniel Francisco Ponce, 26, was facing 13 felony charges from the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office after a woman called 911 to report Ponce was breaking into her home. Multiple residents also reported hearing gunshots in the area around the intersection of David Way and Vasquez Canyon Road.
In addition to first-degree burglary for the break-in, Ponce was facing four counts of child abuse under circumstances likely to cause serious injury or death, with four named victims in the complaint. Each of the five charges carried a potential sentence of six years in state prison.
Ponce ultimately pleaded no contest to four charges as the result of a plea deal, which included the willful discharge of a firearm, vandalism and felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, for a previous conviction in Riverside County.
He received a five-year sentence for shooting his gun in a dangerous manner and eight months for each of the other charges, which were to be served consecutively. He also was given credit for a little over a year served based on the county’s formula for calculating time in custody.
As a result of the plea, nine other charges, including willful cruelty to a child for the juvenile victims, and a misdemeanor for resisting arrest at the scene of the assault, were dismissed, according to L.A. County Superior Court records.
A woman called the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station around 2:45 a.m. May 26 to report her ex-boyfriend was armed with a gun and breaking into her home on the 28800 block of Bouquet Canyon Road.
SCV station deputies responded to the call, found a man who matched Ponce’s description and took him into custody, according to SCV Sheriff’s Station officials who investigated the crimes.
Ponce was taken into custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Dec. 3, according to court records.
