Man Gets One Year for Spate of Robberies

A man arrested with a partner for a series of residential burglaries in January 2010 will serve a year in the county jail for the crime spree.

Judge Lisa Novak sentenced David Paul Capwell in San Mateo County Superior Court to three years' probation contingent upon his time served. He gets credit for five days he spent in custody. He has been ordered to abstain from alcohol and drug use, including his prescribed medical marijuana.

In April, Capwell, 21, and partner Antoine Troy Cox, 23, pleaded no contest to two counts of first degree burglary and one count of receiving stolen goods -- a plea bargain that limited their prison time to a maximum of two years each.

Cox was sentenced in May to two years in jail. He has already served 90 percent of his sentence, having spent 419 days in custody.

Police probing a rash of residential burglaries in San Bruno and in the East Bay got a break in the case when one man left his cell phone at one of the crime scenes.

Police traced the phone to the juvenile girlfriend of David Capwell, who led them to Capwell and Cox.

Misti Leon, whom police say drove the car, was arrested as a lookout but was not charged.

Search warrants served on the suspects’ homes turned up property identified as belonging to the victims, and investigators found $97,000 in cash in the vehicle driven by Leon. Cox and Capwell bought cars and electronics with some of the stolen money, according to the district attorney's office.