An ex-felon who broke into the Tahoe Chamber of Commerce office at Stateline to get out of the cold was sentenced Tuesday to six years in Nevada State Prison.
Sean Follett, 36, must serve a minimum of 28 months before he is eligible for parole.
Lawyer Derrick Lopez said Follett had undergone a change following a near-death experience while in prison and wanted to undergo substance abuse treatment.
"He never before saw a reason to change," Lopez said. "He knows he will die in prison if he doesn't change. He wants to make this the last time he's in trouble."
Prosecutor Tom Gregory said Follett had five prior felony convictions and had escaped habitual criminal enhancement because of the type of offense.
He's been in custody for 363 days.
Follett told District Judge Dave Gamble he had become a Christian in the past 15 months.
"There comes a time in an addict's life when he knows he is ready. I don't want to live this way any more. It's killing me and it's killing my family," Follett said.
Gamble took issue with Follett's claim that he committed the most recent offense because he had no place to go.
"It's sort of how society has failed you," Gamble said. "You broke into this building because Lake Tahoe didn't have a free place for you to stay?
"I want what you say here to be true. I want you to be the person you describe here. You just can't say the words, you have to do the deed. This has to be about how am I going to live. Have I changed? Do you see the difference?" Gamble asked.
In addition to the prison sentence, Follett was ordered to pay $1,059.05 restitution.
-- A 26-year-old Gardnerville woman due to be released from federal prison in August 2009 where she's serving a sentence for a drug transaction is facing five years in Nevada State Prison for a similar offense.
District Judge Dave Gamble suspended the sentence for Annette Theodoratos and ordered her to appear in court within 30 days after her release from federal prison in California.
He placed her on five years' probation consecutive to her federal prison time.
Tod Young, Theodoratos' lawyer, said his client hoped to be released to a halfway house.
She was arrested in 2003 on a federal warrant. While awaiting sentencing and free on her own recognizance, she was arrested in Douglas County in July 2005 with three codefendants on a charge of trafficking in methamphetamine for selling $350 worth of methamphetamine to an undercover informant.
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