Desert Hot Springs burglar receives two-year sentence

A man who carried out a series of burglaries in Desert Hot Springs pleaded guilty to felony charges.

Javien Odell, 32, entered guilty pleas on Friday to felony charges of burglary, receiving stolen property and purchasing or receiving a stolen vehicle, according to case records, at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.   

Odell was sentenced later that day to two years in county prison including 77 days of credit, a sentence that would run concurrent with other cases, according to John Hall of the Riverside County District Attorney's office.

Co-defendant Richard Bates, 59, was accused of the same three aforementioned charges. Judge Melissa Hale sentenced Bates to two years of probation on July 25 after the defendant pleaded guilty to the latter two, according to Thalia Hayden of the Riverside County District Attorney's office.

The burglary charge against Bates was dismissed.   

The charges stemmed from a report of a commercial burglary in January at the 66700 block of Two Bunch Palms Trail, according to the Desert Hot Springs Police Department.

After the suspect vehicle involved in the burglary was identified, it was found at a residence in the 65600 block of Avenida Dorado, where the stolen property was allegedly found, police said.

"In addition, two stolen vehicles were located and recovered, as well as stolen property from two recent commercial burglaries at a business in the 66000 block of Pierson Boulevard, and a burglary and vehicle theft at Desert Hot Springs High School,'' police wrote in a statement.

Odell and Bates were subsequently arrested and booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio, where they were held in lieu of $10,000 bail, according to inmate records.