Sonoma County Man Guilty of Beating Mom, Stealing Her Car

SONOMA COUNTY, CA -- A Sonoma County Superior Court jury has convicted Robert Churich, 58, of five felony charges, include vehicle theft, grand theft and intimidating a victim.

The Larkfield man, which was convicted Dec. 13, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 6. He was convicted of assaulting his mother with cast iron pans and elder abuse and cruelty last year.

The jury couldn't reach a verdict on an attempted murder charge, and after deliberating over two days, acquitted Churich of threatening to commit a crime.

The assault happened Oct. 5, 2015 at the home Churich and his 74-year-old mother shared north of Santa Rosa. Churich became enraged when his mother demanded he move out of the house, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.

He hit his mother with three cast iron pans stored in the garage, breaking the handle of one pan that he struck his mother with 10 times, Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Staebell said.

When Churich's mother ran to a neighbor's house for help, Churich stole her car and used his mother's credit card over the following 24 hours, the District Attorney's Office said.

The sheriff's office arrested Churich after a Healdsburg police officer spotted the vehicle on Healdsburg Avenue on Oct. 6, 2015.

Bay City News contributed to this report/Image via Shutterstock