After series of burglaries, man may avoid jail time

A serial burglar who led Costa Mesa on a chase through the Mesa Verde neighborhood last year pleaded guilty Thursday to half a dozen felonies but could avoid being locked up.

An Orange County Superior Court judge sentenced Marc Christopher Marchetti to seven years and four months in state prison, but as part of a plea agreement, the judge stayed that order and placed Marchetti on five years of formal probation, according to prosecutors.

If Marchetti, 43, completes his probation without incident, he could avoid further time behind bars, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors also dropped some additional charges in exchange for Marchetti pleading guilty to three counts of first-degree burglary, one count of attempted burglary and two counts of receiving stolen property, according to court records.

Police arrested Marchetti in May, the same month he was released from jail after serving a sentence for an earlier crime.

In November 2013, Marchetti pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property after he’d tried to sell jewelry that was stolen from a home in Newport Beach, according to police.

A judge sentenced him to a short jail term, but after Marchetti was freed on April 18, police noticed a string of Costa Mesa break-ins that were similar to the earlier Newport Beach burglary connected to Marchetti.

Based on that, officers located Marchetti at a Costa Mesa motel and began watching him.

On May 16, detectives confronted Marchetti when he entered a home’s backyard, but he ran, police said.

After searching the area, officers found Marchetti who was wearing and carrying stolen property, according to police.

Marchetti managed to burglarize at least three homes between the time he was released from jail and when Costa Mesa police arrested him, according to the charges he pleaded guilty to Thursday.