A man was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison Wednesday for his role in a violent home invasion and the brutal beating of an 80-year-old man.
On November 28, 2012, Joshua Jett, 23, and 17-year-old Adam Donaldson broke into a man’s home in the San Carlos area, in the 8400 block of Harwell Drive.
The victim – an 80-year-old man – answered the door after the suspects rang his doorbell and the men forced their way inside, overpowering the resident.
The victim told police the two suspects attacked him with a crowbar and ransacked his home before making off with stolen jewelry.
The victim sustained serious head injuries in the crowbar beating and had to have surgery, but survived.
On the day of the violent home invasion, San Diego police officers said they received an anonymous phone call from someone saying they had spotted two suspicious men going door to door in the neighborhood, turning doorknobs to see if doors were unlocked. The men were also seen using a crowbar in an attempt to force open a door.
A K-9 officer was sent to the San Carlos area to check out the report of the suspicious men and when he arrived, he saw Jett and Donaldson leaving the victim’s home on Harwell Drive. The officer was able to arrest the two suspects at the scene.
They were armed with a crowbar and were carrying stolen jewelry, police said.
On Friday, more than six months after the home invasion, Jett was sentenced to 12 years and eight months in prison for a multitude of felony charges including robbery, burglary, battery with serious bodily injury, false imprisonment of an elder and causing harm to an elder.
Jett appeared in court before a judge, as well as the victim of the home invasion.
His attorney argued that Jett was “highly intoxicated” at the time of the robbery and crowbar beating, under the influence of several substances including alcohol, marijuana, Xanax, ecstasy and Klonopin.
Jett’s attorney said Jett has an extensive history of drug abuse that goes back to childhood and argued that Jett is remorseful over his actions.
A judge gave Jett the opportunity to address the courtroom. He turned from his seat and spoke directly to the victim and the victim’s family.
“I’m really, really sorry. My heart goes out to your family. I’m just really sorry; I think about it every day. It hurts me that I did that. I’m not that type of person to do anything like that, sir,” Jett said in a shaky voice. “This has really changed me. It’s gotten me clean. I’m sorry; I don’t want to be known as the type of person that does that.”
Deputy District Attorney Paul Greenwood, of San Diego’s elder abuse prosecution unit, said that while the now-81-year-old victim has fully recovered from the beating, he remains anxious and fearful in his own home.
The victim lives alone and had lost his wife just weeks before the home invasion, Greenwood said.
Greenwood said Jett had planned out the attack on the victim and the crime was not spontaneous.
He claimed Jett had told others about his plans via text messages and knew his intended victim was elderly. He also knew the man lived alone and that his wife had recently died.
As Jett was attacking the victim, Greenwood said Jett told the man, “You better not tell anyone, or you’ll end up just like your wife.”
Greenwood said the driving force behind the violent home invasion was greed, not drugs. The deputy DA said he was pleased with the judge’s sentencing on Friday.
He said Donaldson, the other home invasion suspect, is due in court in the next couple of weeks. Greenwood said investigators are still searching for other potential suspects that may have given Jett and Donaldson information about the victim prior to the robbery.
