Thief Who Targeted La Quinta Businesses Pleads Guilty

LA QUINTA, CA — A Highland man who stole from two businesses in La Quinta pleaded guilty Monday to grand theft charges and was immediately sentenced to serve one month in jail.

Huy Nhat Pham, 32, was charged with two felony counts each of burglary and of grand theft over $950, as well as one misdemeanor count each of being in possession of drug paraphernalia, shoplifting value of under $950 and receiving stolen property, according to court records.

He pleaded guilty Monday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio to two felony counts of grand theft of over $950 — at a TJ Maxx and a Marshalls store in La Quinta, according to court records. The remaining charges were dismissed.

He was immediately sentenced to serve one month in county jail and submit to mandatory supervision of one year and 11 months.

The La Quinta Special Enforcement Team served a search warrant March 16 in the 26000 block of Bruce Street in Highland Thursday morning in connection to the thefts that were reported March 1, according to Sgt. Jamie Lewis of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

The thefts occurred at businesses in the 78000 and 79000 block of Highway 111 in La Quinta, according to Lewis. The same businesses also reported similar thefts in their locations out of the area.

About $3,200 worth of stolen merchandise was recovered during the search, according to Lewis, and Pham was taken into custody.