People v. Cam CA3

Filed 8/10/21 P. v. Cam CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (San Joaquin) ----

THE PEOPLE, C091632

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. STKCRFE20140005358) v.

LUC CAM,

Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Luc Cam pleaded no contest to theft of utility services over $400 and was placed on five years of informal probation. Following a contested restitution hearing, defendant was ordered to make restitution to Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) in the amount of $219,035.32. On appeal, defendant contends the court abused its discretion in setting the restitution amount. We will affirm the restitution order. After defendant appealed, Assembly Bill No. 1950 (2019-2020 Reg. Sess.) became effective, which modified the permissible period for grants of probation.

1

Considering Assembly Bill No. 1950, we shall remand for defendant to seek a reduced term of probation. BACKGROUND Defendant stole electricity to grow cannabis plants. On June 26, 2019, defendant pleaded no contest to felony theft of utility services over $400. (Pen. Code, § 498, subd. (d).)1 The court noted at the change of plea hearing, defendant’s sentence “would be informal probation, five years.” On November 12, 2019, the court suspended imposition of sentence and granted defendant five years of informal probation. On March 2, 2020, the trial court held a hearing on victim restitution. Brian Graddy, a theft investigator for PG&E, testified that once in December 2013 and once in March 2014 he measured the actual electricity being used at defendant’s house and compared it to what the meter read. At these times the house was consuming 35.316 and 28.068 kilowatts per hour, respectively, but the meter read only 3.14 and .983 kilowatts per hour, respectively. On March 7, 2014, Graddy accompanied police on a search of defendant’s residence and discovered an electrical circuit that bypassed PG&E’s metering system. Connected to the bypassed circuit were fifty-five 1,000-watt high-pressure sodium lights, all connected to timers set to run between 12 and 18 hours a day, along with 21 inline exhaust fans, and one oscillating fan. Graddy inputted the average electricity used by the equipment and their associated timer valuers in a spreadsheet used to calculate the total electricity used. From this, he calculated the equipment was set up to steal 952.379- kilowatt-hours per day, or about 40 kilowatts per hour. At an average price of 34.6 cents a kilowatt, he estimated defendant stole $330.14 per day.