By Ramneet Singh
SACRAMENTO – There appeared to be many questions left to answer in Sean Pelton’s grand theft preliminary hearing here Friday in Sacramento County Superior Court—and Judge Stephen Acquisto indicated he has big doubts even as he sent the case forward to jury trial.
The basis of the case against Pelton began in the early morning hours of May 22. Sacramento city police officers detained Sean Pelton while he was walking toward his vehicle parked on the west curb line of S Street, south of an AT&T parking lot front fence.
He was charged with two felony counts of grand theft of catalytic converters and five related vehicle code violations of tampering.
Deputy District Attorney Nick Karp called Officer Armando Sandoval to provide testimony on his understanding of the events, aided by his report. According to the testimony, Officer Sandoval and Officer Thompson were dispatched twice at 3:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. for related reasons.
In the first case, the officers responded to 821 25th Street after a complaint that an individual in a maroon sweatshirt was cutting catalytic converters from vehicles within a fenced AT&T parking lot.
In the second case, the officers responded to 27th and Q Streets about a suspicious individual calling someone about five stolen catalytic converters. Officer Sandoval stated that the general 
description of the individual as “male, white, heavyset, with a black ballcap, and that he had a backpack with what appeared to be like power saws sticking out.”
Outside of the parking lot, the officers saw a truck with the front passenger door open. With the license plate and a DMV registration, they connected the vehicle to Pelton and found two catalytic converters in the back.
Once in the parking lot, the officers found two catalytic converters next to a Ford F 450 truck and two other vehicles tampered with and having wires cut. Near one of these vehicles was a fully charged power saw.
Within this time, they detained Vernon Collier near the south side of 25th Street on S Street as he matched the original description. Collier denied personally knowing Pelton, but that he knew of him. Collier was released and was not detained again, despite being recognized walking westbound on Q Street toward 27th Street.
Later, officers responded to the AT&T parking lot and contacted a Triple-A service truck at the scene, which had been called by Pelton.
Sandoval searched the area and found a backpack, and he stated that it contained tools related to burglary. As Officer Sandoval was “Mirandizing” Pelton, the defendant received a phone call from a person named “Vern.”
Assistant Public Defender Stephen Hirsch argued that Pelton was only identified at the scene at about 5:30 a.m. and that Pelton needed assistance from Triple-A service to access his vehicle. Furthermore, Hirsch noted Collier matched the original description and was later seen on 27th and Q but not detained. The defense pleaded not guilty.
Karp’s counter-argument maintained that it was important that officers detained Pelton, who had matched the suspicious individual’s description, noting that the vehicle was owned by Pelton and noting the potential link between Pelton and Collier, but that it was a separate matter.
At this point, there was general confusion over the description of the suspicious individual and the sequence of events. From his questioning of Sandoval, PD Hirsch found that the second complainant could not indicate the suspicious individual.
Judge Acquisto stated that the description of the individual was relatively broad, and ultimately the judge and attorneys determined that the suspicious individual was walking toward a meetup location.
In terms of the damage, the AT&T officials stated that the value of the converters was $1,591.04 each with damage to the fence being about $368.
At this stage, Judge Acquisto said that the evidence “barely satisfies the probable cause standard,” but was not sure if it was enough to prove Pelton was “guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Still, since the bar is very low at a preliminary hearing, the judge set a trial readiness conference for March 4, 2021, at 1:35 p.m. in Dept. 62 and the trial is on March 8 at 8:45 a.m. in Dept. 9.
Ramneet Singh is a third-year student at the University of California, Davis. He is a Political Science major and is pursuing a History minor. He is from Livingston, California.
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