Sonora pair who assaulted, robbed elder near Indio plead guilty, immediately sentenced
A man and a woman who robbed and assaulted a 69-year-old man in an unincorporated area of Riverside County near Indio pleaded guilty to felony charges and were immediately sentenced to state prison today.
Brooke Cassidy Prentiss, 36, and Morgan Kenneth Styre, 27 -- residents of Sonora, in Tuolumne County -- were charged with one felony count each of robbery and cruelty to an elder as well as a misdemeanor count of intent to defraud, according to court records.
Styre pleaded guilty Thursday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio to both felony counts while Prentiss pleaded guilty to one felony count of robbery, according to court records.
Styre was immediately sentenced to four years in state prison and Prentiss was sentenced to two years.
Deputies responded around 2 a.m. April 4 to the 84200 block of Indio Springs Parkway to a report of a man who was robbed, according to Sgt. David Aldrich of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
Aldrich said the victim sustained minor injuries from being punched and Tasered before his personal belongings were taken, but he declined medical treatment.
The Thermal sheriff station's Special Investigations Unit assumed the investigation and identified Prentiss and Styre as the suspects, according to Aldrich.
On Saturday, the Imperial County Sheriff's Department located their vehicle in Holtville, where deputies found the victim's property. The two were arrested without incident before investigators from the RCSD's Thermal sheriff's station responded to Holtville to take over custody of them.
Styre and Prentiss have no previous felony convictions in Riverside County.
