SANTA ANA, Calif. – A third-striker who was recaptured in Mexico as part of an international manhunt for the thief after he skipped out on $1.2 million bond has been sentenced to 61 years to life in state prison for his role in running a multi-county burglary ring responsible for stealing $1.9 million in designer watches and purses, jewelry, guns, and cash in 44 residential burglaries in Orange and San Bernardino counties.
Erick Daniel Soria, now 33, is the fourth defendant sentenced in the rash of residential burglaries that began in Chino Hills in August 2019 and continued in Fullerton, Anaheim Hills, Villa Park, Lake Forest, Yorba Linda, Buena Park, and Irvine through February 2020. Two of the burglaries occurred when residents were home. The fifth and final defendant remains a wanted fugitive.
Soria, a third-striker who was on parole for another residential burglary, was awaiting trial on multiple felonies in connection with the Orange and San Bernardino burglaries in 2021 when Orange County Superior Court Judge Larry Yellin denied prosecutors’ request to hold Soria without bail. Judge Yellin instead set Soria’s bail at $750,000, which he posted, along with a $500,000 bond after pleading guilty in a residential burglary case in Los Angeles County. He then fled to Mexico…