Santa Rosa man sentenced to 31 years in prison for home burglaries

<p>A Santa Rosa man still facing prosecution in Napa County has been sentenced to 31 years in state prison for residential burglaries in Sonoma County from 2009 to 2011, several of them involving elderly victims, the District Attorney's Office said.</p><p>Monty Allen Mullins, 46, had pleaded guilty last fall to five residential burglaries, possession of stolen property and possession of a stolen vehicle, authorities said.</p><p>Mullins also admitted that two of the burglaries were committed while he was out on bail, and that he had a previous residential burglary conviction, the District Attorney's Office said.</p><p>Mullins was arrested in late 2009 after fingerprints linked him to a residential burglary in Oakmont. He was found in possession of stolen property tied to a window-smash car burglary a few hours earlier.</p><p>While out of custody on Sept. 3, 2010, he was arrested after fleeing a Windsor residential burglary in a car stolen a few days earlier during a Novato residential burglary.</p><p>Mullins and another man also were linked to an Aug. 29, 2010 burglary in Sonoma where a license number on the getaway car was traced back to Mullins' daughter.</p><p>Video surveillance earlier that day from the Twin Pines Casino in Lake County showed the pair leaving the casino in that same car after trying to use a credit card stolen during a residential burglary in Calistoga still earlier that same day, authorities said.</p><p>On February 8, 2011, Mullins was again arrested after the adult son of an elderly couple saw him flee their Rincon Valley home. He went to a nearby residence, which he also burgled before Santa Rosa police arrested him, authorities said.</p><p>Mullins has since been held on bail of $2 million, authorities said.</p><p>Mullins heads next to Napa County for prosecution in the Calistoga burglary case.</p>