A Washougal teenager was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for trying to rob an 86-year-old woman in her home and burglarizing a second woman’s home, both last year.
Nikita Zimin, 19, pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted robbery, residential burglary and attempted residential burglary.
Zimin had used a ruse that his car ran out of gas to enter the 86-year-old woman’s home in Washougal on Jan. 5, 2010. He then demanded the woman give him money, and when she didn’t comply, he pushed her to the ground, said Deputy Prosecutor Scott Ikata.
Ikata said the woman may have hit a table when she was thrown to the ground; court records indicate she was taken to a local hospital for severe facial bruising and bleeding. She now lives at an assisted living facility.
Zimin also admitted in court Thursday to burglarizing the Vancouver home of a second elderly woman and stealing $10 on March 24, 2010, and then trying to burglarize the home again Sept. 15 of that year, Ikata said.
He knew both women because he mowed their lawns, Ikata said.
Zimin was initially charged with several aggravating factors, including the fact that at least one of the victims was classified as a vulnerable adult. The deputy prosecutor said he and defense attorney Therese Lavallee reached the plea deal as a way to avoid putting both women through a trial.
“Both victims are quite elderly,” Ikata said. “It would be an ordeal, at the very least, for the victims to appear at trial.”
Lavallee explained her client’s actions as resulting from a drug addiction while he attended Washougal High School. She said since his incarceration, Zimin has enrolled in a treatment program and obtained a GED. He also wrote a letter of apology to the 86-year-old woman.
“I’m truly sorry for what I did,” Zimin told Clark County Superior Court Judge Scott Collier. “I didn’t realize at the time what I was doing.”
At the request of the deputy prosecutor and defense attorney, Collier sentenced Zimin to 36 months, the middle of the sentencing range.
Laura McVicker: www.twitter.com/col_courts; www.facebook.com/reportermcvicker; laura.mcvicker@columbian.com; 360-735-4516.
