Moses Lake man sentenced for breaking into ex-girlfriend's home
Local Crime News
EPHRATA - A Moses Lake man is serving a prison sentence for breaking into his ex-girlfriend's house and holding a knife over her while she was sleeping.
Mauro Balderas Jr., 39, pleaded guilty to residential burglary in Grant County Superior Court, according to court records.
Prosecutors initially charged Balderas with first degree burglary and residential burglary. The first degree burglary charge was dismissed, according to court records.
Balderas has prior felony convictions for assault in violation of a protection order, second degree malicious mischief and third degree assault, according to court records. When combined with his present convictions, he faced a sentencing range of a year and a month to a year and five months in prison.
Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz followed the recommendation of prosecutors and the defense attorney, sentencing Balderas to the maximum end of the range.
Balderas snuck into his ex-girlfriend's home through a broken window, took a knife from the kitchen and went into the room where his ex-girlfriend and a man were asleep, according to a Grant County sheriff's report. The two allegedly woke and found Balderas standing next to the woman with the knife.
Balderas said the woman was his girlfriend and wife, and eventually placed the knife on a dresser, according to the police report. The man approached Balderas, telling him he needed to leave, and the woman wasn't his wife.
Balderas approached the man like he wanted to fight, and the man punched Balderas in the mouth, according to court records. He threw Balderas out of the resident, and called 9-1-1.
When Balderas was being transported to the Grant County Jail, he started speaking to the officer, admitting to entering without permission, and then saying he should have killed his ex-girlfriends's new boyfriend, according to court records. He admitted to not caring about restraining orders, saying he broke them many times in the past and would break them again.
A deputy reported responding to calls involving Balderas entering his ex-girlfriend's house and not leaving, according to the police report. The officer and the man reported Balderas seemed intoxicated at the time of the incident.