Gage Roth, Intruder Found Nude In Van Nuys Apartment, Free After Serving Less Than A Third Of 270-Day Sentence
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — A man who was captured on video trying to break into one home and found nude in the home of another family is free Monday after serving a fraction of his jail sentence.
Gage Roth, 31, was released from jail on Sept. 14, serving just 77 days of a 270-day sentence, according to Los Angeles County sheriff's jail records. Roth was arrested on June 30, after he was found nude in an apartment where 12-year-old twins were sleeping and struggling with their father. He was captured on security video trying to break into another home a mile away just hours earlier.
Roth previously served time in prison and had been arrested for burglary five times since 2019. Despite that criminal history, LAPD officers did not arrest Roth and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office declined to file any criminal charges against him.
The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office stepped in and charged Roth with vandalism for damaging an air conditioning unit, battery for struggling with the father of the twins, and aggravated trespassing into a home with inhabitants present. Roth agreed to a plea deal, which put him in jail for 90 days and a consecutive sentence for trespassing and possession of methamphetamine, for a total of 270 days in jail.
Roth may have been released after serving less than a third of his sentence due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The state has been expediting the release of inmates in order to keep COVID-19 from circulating widely within jail populations. Inmates who are eligible for an expedited release must not be serving time for a violent crime, a sex offender, and have 180 days or less to serve on their sentences.
