Habitual Criminal Sentencing

District Attorney Announces Sentencing of Washoe Man as Habitual Criminal

January 20, 2016

Reno, Nevada

Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks announced today that a Washoe County man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison as a habitual criminal, stemming from three recent burglary convictions.  The sentence ensure the defendant will serve a minimum of 10 years in prison before he is eligible for parole, despite receiving concurrent sentences for the habitual criminal and burglary charges.

Curtis James Tomlinson, 34, (DOB 2/8/81) from Washoe County, was sentenced on Thursday, January 14, 2015 in Washoe County District Court by Judge Jerry Polaha to 25 years in prison for one count of Habitual Criminal and 10 years in prison for each of three counts of Burglary.  Tomlinson pled guilty to the burglary counts in November, 2015 for his role in burglarizing several Reno and Sparks businesses during September of last year. Prior to sentencing, Washoe County Deputy District Attorney Matt Lee filed a charge of habitual criminal against Tomlinson, arguing that he should be sentenced as a career criminal based on his record of 12 prior felony convictions from Nevada, Missouri and Arkansas.   The sentences Tomlinson received were ordered to run concurrent and he will be eligible for parole after serving a minimum of 10 years in prison.

The cases involving Tomlinson began when Sparks and Reno detectives identified Tomlinson as a suspect in several area commercial burglaries.  In one case, Tomlinson had been an employee of a Sparks pallet company and was identified on surveillance footage during an investigation into a September 15, 2015 burglary of the business. In another case on September 21, 2015, Tomlinson was identified as having burglarized two Reno businesses by kicking in a door and window to access the businesses and steal a laptop computer, a tablet computer, cash box, and a credit card, which he later used.  In his haste, the defendant left behind a checkbook in his name.  In addition, checks from one of the businesses in the Reno case were found in Tomlinson’s wallet when he was arrested.  These checks were linked to an earlier burglary of the same business.   Tomlinson was also linked to a September 19, 2015 break in of a Reno dental office in which nothing was stolen.