Burglary suspects set to plead guilty

A man and a woman suspected in more than a dozen burglaries are set to plead guilty June 8 to two counts of burglary each.

Timothy Charles Morgan, 21, and Vanessa Briesida Gomez, 19, both of the Gardnerville Ranchos, waived their preliminary hearings Wednesday in East Fork Justice Court.

Justice Jim EnEarl bound them over to District Court where they will appear before Judge Michael Gibbons.

They were arrested May 7 following a rash of 14 burglaries over the past several weeks throughout Carson Valley.

One of the burglary victims was home when the attempt was made and was able to describe a Ford Explorer and the two suspects.

When patrol deputies were briefed about the case, Douglas County Sheriff's Deputy Nadine Chrzanowski recognized the description of the female suspect as possibly being Vanessa Gomez and knew that Gomez was driving her mother's Explorer.

Chrzanowski passed this information to Investigator Ed Garren, the lead investigator on the residential burglary cases.

Garren followed Gomez and a passenger, later identified as Morgan, from Gomez' home to the Pine View Estates area, south of town, where he and other investigators saw the couple walk to several homes in the neighborhood.

They returned to their vehicle and drove away, leaving the area. DCSO investigators followed Gomez and Morgan while Garren checked the homes that the subjects two had been seen walking around.

Garren discovered the homes had been broken into through the front and side doors.

The investigators and patrol deputies stopped Gomez and Morgan, and allegedly saw items inside the vehicle is believed to be stolen in the burglaries.

Both Gomez and Morgan were booked on three counts of burglary. Their bail was set at $75,000 each.

In the criminal complaint, Gomez was identified as the lookout for Morgan.

Morgan was sentenced in November 2006 to five years in Nevada State Prison and ordered to pay $41,809 restitution for his part in a burglary ring that targeted Gardnerville Ranchos residents.

He was eligible for parole after 13 months in prison.

He was arrested in the 2006 case after a neighbor recognized him trying to pry open a window to gain entry to his grandmother's house.

EnEarl reminded Gomez he advised her a year ago to straighten out or she would end up in District Court.

She was arrested in relation to a Jan. 27, 2008, accident and convicted for causing an accident after taking a car for a joy ride.

"I'm not picking on you," EnEarl said. "I want you to understand what prison's like. You won't like it. I don't wish you failure, I wish you success. I can't fix it for you. You're the only one who can," he said.