Teen ordered to search for stolen knife

A Stockton, Calif., teenager was ordered Tuesday to spend 80 hours looking for a stolen pocketknife he admitted taking during a break-in at a house at Lake Tahoe.

District Judge Dave Gamble ordered Christopher Mitchell, 18, to look for the knife in lieu of performing 80 hours of community service.

"I want you to produce the knife you said you threw in a drainage ditch," Gamble said. "If you can't produce it, I want you to spend 80 hours looking for it and prove to me that you did that."

Mitchell was sentenced to 12 months suspended in Douglas County Jail and ordered to pay $1,851 in restitution.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft, but said he believed that he and a juvenile defendant were allowed to be in the house.

Mitchell's lawyer, Jennifer Yturbide, said her client had recently turned 18 when the crime occurred in April and had never been in trouble.

Last week, Gamble ordered Mitchell to spend a week in jail when he tested positive for marijuana.

Mitchell told authorities he smoked marijuana daily since he was 15.

"I'm sorry for causing trouble. I'll try my hardest," Mitchell said. "It was not fun for me sitting in jail. It's not a good place to be."

Under questioning from Gamble, he admitted that marijuana had gotten him in trouble.

"I lost a lot of money. It's not getting me anywhere," he said. "I have to hide it. I don't like people seeing me."

"Doesn't that mean it's wrong?" Gamble asked. "Can't you just put in your life a test that 'If I can't do this in front of my mom, I can't do it?'

"I don't want you to ever go to jail again," Gamble said.

n Brian Cooper, 34, was given an honorable discharge from probation and congratulated by District Judge Dave Gamble who said he proved him wrong.

"Thank you for being the poster child for people changing their lives," Gamble said.

"Now it gets tough. There are no more people with their thumbs on you," he said.

Cooper pleaded guilty to grand larceny after a $12,000 robbery from an Indian Hills convenience store in 2005.

Cooper was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay $7,000 restitution.

He received probation and was admitted to Western Nevada Regional Drug Court which he successfully completed in May.