Palm Springs man gets four-year sentence for charges including burglary
A 34-year-old man was sentenced to 48 months in prison after pleading guilty to burglary, as well as for resisting or deterring an officer in separate cases today.
Palm Springs resident Justin Val Miller did so as part of a plea arrangement with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office Thursday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, according to spokesman John Hall.
Two-thirds of the sentence was for the felony second-degree burglary count, while the remaining third was for the other case. Both sentences will be served consecutively.
Miller pleaded not guilty to the burglary charge in September 2023.
Officers responded shortly after 3 a.m. on an August 2023 night to a report from a resident in the 1300 block of Crystal Court about a suspicious person who jumped the fence into their backyard, according to the Palm Springs Police Department. He was described as a man walking with a limp and with multiple tattoos on his arms, neck and head.
As the area was being checked, residents reported the same person prowling in their backyards, in the 3200 block of Cambridge Court and in the 2900 block of East Sonora Road, police said. Officers were not able to find the suspect at either of the residences.
Shortly after 1 p.m. that day, a resident received an alert about someone on their property in the 2900 block of East Sonora Road, according to police.
"They accessed their camera system and saw the same suspicious person described above had actually entered their home,'' Palm Springs police wrote in a statement. "PSPD responded and determined a burglary occurred and the suspect had fled the scene."
Miller was subsequently identified as the suspect and found in the 600 block of Canon Drive, where he was arrested, according to police. He was then booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center.
