After testifying against his accomplices at trial last week, an 18-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 365 days of confinement for his role in a home-invasion robbery Dec. 4 in an apartment in Vancouver’s Sifton neighborhood.
The two victims were tied up with cords and forced at gunpoint inside a bedroom closet.
In an agreement with prosecutors, John R. Lujan of Vancouver pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court Friday to second-degree robbery. He also was required to testify truthfully last week during the trial of his co-defendants, Calvin J. Quichocho, 22, and Brandon English, 21, both of Vancouver. In exchange, Deputy Prosecutor Dan Gasperino dismissed charges of two counts of first-degree robbery, two counts of first-degree kidnapping and two counts of second-degree assault.
Gasperino said Lujan was involved in planning the robbery but didn’t known that a firearm would be involved.
“In fact, the plan changed at some point in the robbery itself,” Gasperino said.
Lujan’s accomplices turned the gun on Lujan “in an attempt to act as if he was not involved in the theft,” Clark County sheriff’s Detective Jared Stevens wrote in a court affidavit.
“Hopefully, this is a wake-up call for him,” Gasperino said. “He seems like a good kid.”
Judge Barbara Johnson ordered that Lujan submit to a substance abuse evaluation and any recommended treatment. He also will be required to serve 12 months of probation and have no contact with the victims for a period of 10 years.
Lujan has been in the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center for 323 days.
He is close to being out with reduced time for good behavior, Gasperino said.
A Clark County jury found Quichocho and English guilty Thursday of two counts of first-degree robbery, two counts of first-degree kidnapping and two counts of second-degree assault. They are scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 14.
Quichocho and English robbed Austin Bondy and Brittany Horn at gunpoint inside a unit at the Prairie View Apartment Homes, 12611 N.E. 99th St., Gasperino said.
Lujan and English had arranged to meet Bondy at his apartment under the ruse that they planned to buy marijuana from him. Instead, English and Quichocho stole valuables belonging to Bondy and Horn.
Once the suspects were inside the apartment, Quichocho drew a firearm from his clothing and pointed it at the victims. English shoved Lujan onto the couch and told him to stay down, according to court records.
Quichocho then ordered Bondy and Horn to get on the ground, court records say.
After Lujan bound the man and woman with cords, Quichocho again pointed the gun at the victims and told the man that “the bullets in the firearm were for him,” Stevens wrote.
Quichocho and English then forced the victims into a bedroom closet and told them to stay inside for at least an hour, according to court records. Quichocho and English left the residence with the victims’ marijuana, an Xbox 360, a wallet, a purse and a cellphone. They left Lujan inside the apartment with the victims.
“This is a situation that got way out of hand,” said Lujan’s attorney, Gerry Wear. “Although he was involved in trying to obtain marijuana (in the robbery), he did not know a third party was being brought aboard and that a gun was being brought aboard.”
Lujan apologized to his victims.
“This is something I’ve learned from,” he said, “not to hang out with the people I was hanging out with.”
Johnson advised Lujan to stay away from drugs and to work on his education in order to stay out of jails and prison in the future.
