Woman who slashed the tires of 11 cars in Garden Grove sentenced to time served

Mary Cruz Berumen, a 45-year-old woman, pleaded guilty on Friday and she was then immediately sentenced to time served in jail for slashing the tires of 11 cars in Garden Grove. Her guilty plea came just weeks after she got out of jail after a previous plea deal for shooting two people with a BB gun.

This time Berumen pleaded guilty to eight misdemeanor counts of vandalism. One additional count was dismissed by the Judge. Berumen was originally facing three felony counts of vandalism and six misdemeanor counts.

Berumen had already served a little over 11 months in jail, which will end up being her time served.

On Jan. 2, Berumen slashed the tires of 11 vehicles including a 2012 Dodge Ram, 2013 Toyota Camry, a Honda, a Hyundai, a 2015 Honda Civic, another Honda, an Acura, a Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla, a 2006 Toyota Avalon and another unspecified vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.

On Nov. 20, Berumen accepted a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge Kazuharu Makino in an assault case involving two men who were shot with a BB gun, according to court records.

You can pay from $50 to over $1,000 for a single new tire, depending on type and quality, according to NerdWallet. That does not include the tire installation!

Berumen served less than a year in jail. She did not apparently pay any fines. She appears to have got off pretty easy.

Art Pedroza Editor

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

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