In Re Meagan R.

42 Cal.App.4th 17 (1996)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Joani Rodriguez left her apartment after locking the door and securing the windows. Upon her return three days later, she found her home vandalized, the front window screen bent and the window open. Bleach had been poured over the carpets and furniture, food was strewn on the floor, and her furniture had been slashed. Her cable television box, clock, perfume, tweezers and three pairs of socks were missing. Her remote control for the cable box was destroyed. She found a letter on her bed which read: 'Thank you for the use of your bed. Meagan and Oscar.' She knew no one named Meagan, nor did she ever give consent for this person to be in her apartment. Oscar Rodriguez was Joani's ex-boyfriend. Oscar did not live with her, he visited her and kept some clothing at her house. Apparently, she had permitted him to come in the house when she was there. He did not have a key. Their relationship dissolved when he went to prison in January 1991. She filed for a restraining order against him after his release in August 1994. Desire Renfro, a neighbor, recognized the handwriting on the note as that of D from her computer class. D admitted she had poured bleach all over Joani's apartment and she and Oscar had sex in Joani's bed. The police were called. D told the police she entered the apartment with Oscar after Oscar removed a screen, opened a window next to the front door and then opened the door from the inside. D wrote the note at Oscar's direction. She claims that when she walked into the apartment, the vandalism had already taken place. Oscar placed the socks in a knapsack, and they removed them from the apartment. The juvenile court found true the allegations D had committed burglary and vandalized property valued at less than $1,000. As to the burglary count, the court found she had entered Joani's residence with the intent to commit a felony, not theft. The court reasoned if she facilitated Oscar's commission of statutory rape, she aided and abetted her statutory rape. The court thus found she committed residential burglary by entering the residence with the intent to perpetrate or aid and abet her own statutory rape.