Man, 19, sentenced to 12 years, 8 months in prison for Newport Beach burglary spree

A 19-year-old Newport Beach man was sentenced Friday to 12 years and eight months in state prison for a rash of home break-ins that left local residents shaken.

During a lengthy and emotional hearing in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, several Balboa Island residents made statements about the impact of the crimes. Some joined friends and family members of defendant Aquinas “Quinn” Kasbar in appealing for a sentence that would help rehabilitate him.

Kasbar himself vowed to repay the victims “to the fullest extent.”

Kasbar pleaded guilty Sept. 11 to 29 felony and three misdemeanor counts in connection with the string of burglaries that struck Balboa Island and Corona del Mar between July 2017 and December 2018. Among the items reported stolen were safes, cash, high-end watches and fine jewelry.

Kasbar lives and grew up on Balboa Island.

“You stole 48 years of precious memories,” resident Vicki Stump said to Kasbar in court Friday, emphasizing that “it wasn’t just the monetary value of the jewelry that was taken from a family safe.”

“Did you even give a thought to these precious memories when you pawned [the stolen goods]? ... How in the world did you get to this point, preying on your neighbors and feeling entitled?” Stump said.

Stump said her late husband, Bruce, spent the last seven months of his life occupied with the aftermath of the burglary, including repairs related to the break-in and its investigation.

“The additional stress he had to bear from your reprehensible acts ... is your greatest crime,” Stump told Kasbar.

According to testimony, losses and damage from the crimes totaled $700,000.

A woman who identified herself as Tammy R. spoke of the $150,000 in cash stolen when a safe was removed from her home.

“I ask for no less than 12 years. ... The message needs to be strong and clear ... for victims and the community. ... Mr. Kasbar needs to know that his behavior will not be tolerated,” she said.

Another victim, Carol A., said she arrived home with her daughter to hear someone in her bedroom. She said she instructed her daughter to run.

The two hid in bushes outside while they called police. When authorities searched the house, it was clear from hand and shoe prints that someone had tried to enter from the skylight in the second-floor bedroom, she said. The break-in was later tied to Kasbar.

“He has stolen my safety forever,” she said, testifying that she has since spent thousands of dollars on a security system, cameras, motion detectors and lights.

“I now own a gun,” Carol A. said. “I hope no one has to go through this victimization like my daughter and I did.”

Kasbar also spoke, saying, “I didn’t appreciate the impact I had on so many of you. ... I’ll make every effort once I’m released, and even now, to repay you to the fullest extent. ... I’m just at a loss for words.”

Therapist Suzanne Koch Eckenrode addressed the court on behalf of the Kasbar family about gambling addiction.

“It’s very clear he had a severe gambling addiction that progressed quite rapidly,” Koch Eckenrode said.

She said Kasbar was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the past year and a half and had an earlier diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

“Gambling activates the rewards system [of the brain] much like drugs. ... It hijacks the brain. ... The part that is incapable of logic is running the show,” Koch Eckenrode said.

After a $12,000 blackjack win, she said, it “really became a problem” and Kasbar became “obsessed” and entered a cycle of winning, losing and “desperation.”

Kasbar believed, “although it’s clearly irrational, that the gambling was going to produce the money to get out of this mess,” Koch Eckenrode said.

Kasbar’s family members offered sympathy for the victims and hope that incarceration and rehabilitation would put him on sure footing to enter his adult life.

“I’m grateful he’s here because he might be dead,” said the defendant’s father, Brain Kasbar, who told Superior Court Judge Andre Manssourian that he was speaking as “a neighbor, as a citizen, not just as a father. ... For [the victims] I want him to get a just sentence for what he’s done.”

He also emphasized his son’s youth.

“Please don’t let his appearance ... hide the fact that he is a teenager,” Brian Kasbar said, noting his son’s 6-foot-4-inch frame.

“If this had happened just seven months earlier, that sentence would have been three years,” the elder Kasbar said, referring to sentencing guidelines for people who were juveniles when a crime was committed. “Bad decisions made as a teen shouldn’t ruin your whole life. ... Everyone in this room knows that.”

“For an 18-year-old, what you did was incredibly sophisticated,” Manssourian told Quinn Kasbar. “If you were older ... a sentence of over 40 years would have been in play.”

In deciding the sentence, the judge said he considered the evidence of addiction and noted Kasbar’s “strong family ties.”

“[That] tells me you stand a far better chance of rehabilitation,” he said.

In July, Kasbar pleaded guilty to a federal charge related to stealing a lemur from the Santa Ana Zoo, evidence of which arose during the burglary investigation. The lemur was taken after the zoo closed July 27, 2018, and was found early the next morning in a crate outside a Newport Beach hotel.

In October, Kasbar was sentenced to three months in prison and ordered to pay the zoo $8,485 in restitution.

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