Woman gets probation in arson

A 43-year-old Topaz Ranch Estates woman who said she tried to kill herself by setting a recreational vehicle on fire was sentenced Tuesday to probation with a condition that she continue to receive counseling.

"This is my 37th day of sobriety," Traci Weimer told District Judge Dave Gamble. "This really made me believe there is a reason I am still alive. Once I get a lot of sobriety behind me, I believe God is going to use me in some way, even if it's to save only one person from trying to commit suicide."

Weimer pleaded guilty to attempted arson in the third degree stemming from the Aug. 31, 2007, incident.

The fire was put out with a garden hose, and Weimer was uninjured even though she lay down in the middle of the 1996 Winnebago after she poured gasoline throughout the vehicle.

She said she had been attending mental health court in Carson City as well as three 12-step meetings a week and a codependency group.

Terms of her probation include abstinence from alcohol, continued counseling and 40 hours of community service.

Gamble ordered her to have a 12-stop sponsor within 60 days and forbade contact with the RV owner or brother.

District Judge Dave Gamble placed a 20-year-old South Lake Tahoe woman on probation Tuesday for attempted burglary and warned her she would go to prison for 32 months if she violated the terms.

Brooke J. Laugheed, who served eight months in El Dorado County Jail for burglary, told Gamble she was finished with her "jail life."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I wasn't thinking how it would hurt them (the victims). I was being selfish."

Laugheed and her ex-boyfriend broke into a house in the 100 block of South Benjamin where she used to work as a housekeeper.

According to the homeowners, the burglars took two 50-inch flat-screen televisions worth $10,000 and a $400 Xbox system. They also used the hot tub, slept in beds, drank beer, wine coolers and liqueur and helped themselves to food.

The defendants were suspects in nearly two dozen vacation home break-ins in the resort community.

Laugheed's lawyer, Derrick Lopez, said his client was missing a gene from her DNA that causes her to take longer to process information and results in poor decision-making.

"She knows she needs more than just jail time," Lopez said.

"I am willing to do anything," she said. "I want my parents to be really proud of me."

Gamble told her the burglary could have had disastrous results.

"There was a time when you and your boyfriend were in this house, eating their food, drinking whatever you were drinking, stealing things. You thought it was really funny," Gamble said. "It was always a crime, always wrong and always bad."

Gamble placed Laugheed on five years probation consecutive to her California sentence.

She must abstain from drugs and alcohol and undergo substance abuse and mental health evaluation and treatment.

"If you commit another crime, I will not have a choice but to send you to prison," Gamble said. "That would be the opposite of what you want for your life."