Judge Orders Teen to Work Off His Sentence

A Carmichael teen was sentenced last week to 90 days on a supervised work crew for being in a car with a loaded handgun, Sacramento County court and sheriff’s department records reveal.

David Javier Jaimes, 18, who also goes by the nickname “Chato,” will spend the next three months picking up trash, refurbishing playgrounds or performing other manual labor duties at one of more than 25 countywide work sites supervised by the sheriff’s department.

The Sheriff’s Work Project allows certain inmates to work off their jail sentence by assisting with specific labor projects requested by school and park districts, churches, civic groups, government agencies and nonprofit organizations, according to the department’s website.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge agreed to sentence Jaimes to the work project, as well as five years of searchable probation, after the Carmichael resident agreed to plead no contest to a felony charge of carrying a concealed firearm. One count of carrying an unregistered, loaded firearm was dropped.

Jaimes was in the passenger seat of a 1990 Honda Accord stopped by a sheriff’s deputy at a gas station at Walerga and Elverta roads in Antelope the evening of Aug. 21, according to a sheriff’s department incident report.

Department spokesman Dep. Jason Ramos said a patrolling deputy conducted a DMV records check of the vehicle and learned the driver, a 20-year-old male, was unlicensed. There was also a 17-year-old male in the back seat.

“While the deputy was behind the vehicle, the other two occupants kept looking back at the deputy as he was behind them,” Ramos explained. “Once the car was stopped, the occupants hastily exited the car. The deputy ordered them back inside, and then spoke with the driver alone outside of the car.”

According to the driver, Jaimes revealed he was in possession of a gun and passed it to the 17-year-old, who was seated directly behind Jaimes and stashed the weapon underneath the seat.

The driver said Jaimes told him they would all go to jail if the gun was discovered, the report states.

A loaded .22 caliber semi-automatic handgun was found underneath the front passenger seat.

Both Jaimes and the 17-year-old, who initially gave deputies a false name, were arrested and taken to jail. The 17-year-old, whose name was not released due to his age, had an active no-bail misdemeanor warrant out for his arrest, the report states. He was eventually transferred to juvenile hall.

The driver, who claimed he didn’t know Jaimes, was released at the scene for cooperating with the deputy and allowing a search of his car.

“Based on his willingness to let the car be searched, it was believed that he was being forthcoming about not knowing the gun was in there,” Ramos said. “The other two, however, gave conflicting statements about everything when they were questioned separately by officers.”

According to the sheriff’s department’s website, time spent on the Sheriff’s Work Project gets counted toward an inmate’s sentence. Good time can be revoked and release dates extended for disciplinary reasons, the site adds.