[symple_googlemap title=”” location=”8100 block of Gulana Avenue, Playa del Rey, CA” height=”300″ zoom=”13″]
A 23-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to damaging electrical panels and a natural gas valve at a Southern California Gas Co. facility in Playa del Rey before stealing a pickup truck and crashing it into a parked car.
James Viramonte Cogley pleaded guilty to one count each of arson, grand theft auto, unlawful taking of a vehicle and vandalism in the Feb. 17 crime on Gas Co. property in Playa del Rey.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Drew Edwards suspended a five-year sentence for Cogley and gave him to five years probation.
After vandalizing electrical panels at a storage facility in the 8100 block of Gulana Avenue, Cogley stole a pickup truck and drove it over a natural gas valve. The damage to the valve caused a leak that took workers about three hours to cap.
The pickup truck was found about a mile away, crashed into a parked car, prosecutors said.
Cogley was identified and arrested at a hospital, where he was treated for injuries suffered in the wreck.
— City News Service