Two Bay Area car thieves have a couple of years in state prison to think about a possible change in profession.
Dewey Leza Cuffle, 49, of Haywood, and Davis James Heinbaugh, 24, of Oakland, were each sentenced to two years in state prison on Monday for their part in the theft of two sports cars from Red Bluff Chrysler Dodge on April 12.
According to police reports, Corning police chased one of the stolen vehicles on Interstate 5, until the driver crashed into a big rig, but the culprits managed to scatter on food before they could be taken into custody.
Cuffle, who was in the first vehicle, was picked up by Heinbuagh, who was driving the second stolen vehicle.
Heinbaugh then led California Highway Patrol officers on a high speed pursuit through Tehama, Glenn and much of Colusa County before the CHP stopped the vehicle near Hwy. 16 at mile marker 5.46 around 7:30 PM, officials said.
Colusa County Superior Court Judge said Cuffle is a career criminal with at least eight prior felony convictions, including three for auto theft.
Court records indicate that Cuffle’s arrests or convictions in his home county of Alameda, dating back to the 1990s, include possession and sale of controlled substances, residential burglary, assault with with means likely to cause great bodily injury, possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon, and numerous special allegations of committing crimes with prior serious felonies, although many charges were dismissed during plea negotiations.
In Colusa County, Cuffle pleaded no contest to receiving a stolen vehicle, in exchange for a dismissal on the charge of bringing contraband into the Colusa County Jail.
Heinbaugh, while considerably younger than Cuffle, has an increasingly criminal history, including arrests and convictions in Alameda County for petty theft, drug possession, auto theft, being a fugitive from the law, and committing crimes while on bail, although some charges were dismissed in plea negotiations.
“He is quite clearly a thief,” Thompson said.
Facing a lengthy prison sentence, Heinbaugh pleaded no contest in Colusa County on Monday to evading a police officer with willful disregard to public safety, in exchange for dismissal of charges relating to driving on a suspended license, obstructing a police officer, and the unlawful taking of a vehicle, which could have landed him in prison for six or more years.
In addition to prison sentences, Cuffle and Haeighbaugh were ordered to pay fines and restitution to Red Bluff Chrysler Dodge in the amount of $29,678.
Both were given 69 days credit off their sentences for time served and earned.
Although Heinbaugh seemed genuinely surprised at the two-year prison sentence, he smiled throughout Monday’s proceedings, and then skipped from the courtroom – in shackles. ■