Man pleads not guilty to counts of looting from a neighbor during the Park Fire

By Javier Hernandez

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    BUTTE COUNTY, California (KHSL) — A Cohasset man pleaded not guilty to counts of looting a vehicle and tools from a neighbor’s shop building as the neighbor was evacuated during the Park Fire, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said.

44-year-old Joshua Keith Emerson was in the Butte County Superior Court on Thursday to enter a plea, Ramsey said. Emerson was also charged with entering a closed location during a state of emergency.

Ramsey said that Emerson’s co-defendant, 41-year-old Rose Sutton, who posted her bail before her court, will appear in court on October 4, where she will be arraigned on charges of entering a closed location during a state of emergency and concealing the stolen property taken by Emerson.

On July 30, an evacuated resident of Cohasset was escorted back to his property at the sheriff’s office to check on his property, Ramsey said.

Upon arrival, the resident noticed that his Mitsubishi Jeep and miscellaneous Milwaukee tools were missing from his shop.

The resident then shared the description of his Jeep on Facebook, and a citizen recognized the car as it was parked at an intersection near Jasper Drive in Chico, Ramsey said.

After the Jeep was recovered, law enforcement began looking around the surrounding neighborhood for any security footage that could lead them to identify the thief.

Butte County Sheriff’s detectives found multiple surveillance videos from private homes showing Emerson driving the Jeep with Sutton as his passenger into the Jasper Drive neighborhood, Ramsey said.

Ramsey said evidence showed that after dropping Sutton off at her family member’s home, Emerson drove the Jeep multiple blocks away and parked it in an attempt to further conceal the car.

Then, on August 1, after receiving a search warrant signed by a Butte County judge, the sheriff’s office searched the home Emerson and Sutton were staying at and a motor home that belongs to Sutton, Ramsey said.

Emerson and Sutton were found on the property. They were arrested and transported to the Butte County Jail.

The Cohasset resident’s items that were looted were returned to him, Ramsey said.

“Looters undermine the trust of the community and are one of the reasons people are fearful to leave their residences during an evacuation. Let this case be a warning to looters; the crime will not pay,” Ramsey said.

Emerson returns to court on August 22nd for his preliminary hearing. He will remain in custody with a $500,000 bail, an increased amount requested by the Butte County District Attorney’s Office.

Ramsey said if Emerson is convicted of all charges, he faces a maximum sentence of three years and eight months in county jail.

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