True Sentenced to Six for Home Burglary Targeting Recently Deceased Sonoma Family

Santa Rosa

A 20-minute phone conversation sealed the conviction of a woman convicted of burglarizing a Sonoma home, just two days after the family that lived there died. 

John and Susan Maloney, 42, and their children, ages 5 and 8, were killed when their 2004 Nissan Quest collided with a 2009 Mini Cooper on state Highway 37 at Lakeville Road.

The crash rocked the Sonoma community, realing from the loss of the well regarded Maloney family, and also killed the driver of the Mini Cooper, Steven Culbertson, 19, of Lakeport.

Amber True, 30, pleaded guilty to burglary, auto theft and vandalism charges in July for burglarizing the Malony home on Nov. 30, 2009  just two days after the Nov. 28, crash. She was scentenced to six years in prison.

Her co-defendant and boyfriend, Michael Gutierrez, pleaded no contest to the same charges.

Prosecutors had alleged that Gutierrez and True had been informed by a San Mateo real estate agent that the Maloney home was unoccupied.

On Oct. 27, Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Arthur Wick sentenced True to five years' probation and one year in county jail. Gutierrez, 37, was sentenced to eight years in prison.

When Wick sentenced True, he agreed with defense attorney Steve Weiss' contention that a prison term would jeopardize True's recovery from her drug addiction.

The judge said state prison would not be in True's or society's best interests, and True expressed remorse about the burglary. She and Gutierrez claimed they didn't know the family who lived at the home had died.

Wick also ordered True not to have any direct or indirect contact with Gutierrez and he gave her until Nov. 4 to begin serving her 12-month jail term at the county's minimum security North County Detention Facility.

Hours after her sentencing, True violated her probation by accepting a call from Gutierrez, who was in the county jail.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Li said True and Gutierrez talked about the no-contact order and joked about not wanting to move to a neighborhood where their home could be burglarized.

Gutierrez also called True a second time on the evening of her sentencing day and the two spoke for 40 minutes, Li said. True also accepted a third phone call from Gutierrez but she then said she couldn't talk to him because of the no-contact order, Li said.

True at first denied speaking to Gutierrez, but on Dec. 16 she admitted violating her probation.

In arguing for a six-year term, Li called True's conduct callous. He said violating the terms of her probation demonstrated True's "Jekyll and Hyde" personality and her "hidden criminal state of mind."

Defense attorney Marie Case told Wick that True's recovery is "a work in progress" and that she is bright and articulate when she applies herself.

Case said True did not initiate the three phone calls, and her violation of probation was a lapse in judgment.

"She's genuinely remorseful for what happened and I'm asking the court to give her one last opportunity for supervised probation," Case said.

Wick said his order not to contact Gutierrez was unambiguous and that True told Gutierrez on the phone she might be violating her probation by accepting the call.

He said True consciously disregarded his order and "used her last chance with this court."

Wick then sentenced True to six years in prison for the burglary of the home, where more than $100,000 in property was taken, including the family's 2006 Nissan 350Z.

Surviving relatives donated the Maloney families property to La Luz - in last good deed.

Bay City News contributed to this report.