In the past week, two local women, Teri Danette Blackburn and Diane May Black, and one man, Steven Thomas Cook, pleaded guilty to felony charges in three separate cases.
On Monday, June 27, Blackburn, a Pine Cove resident, pleaded guilty to one charge of caretaker embezzlement of an elder (Penal Code 368 (e)). Judge Jerry E. Johnson will pronounce sentence Aug. 12. Black waived the time. Her plea included one year in county jail and one year probation.
In October 2010, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department deputies arrested Blackburn, 50, for suspected felony financial abuse of an elder and felony making false statements with the intent to defraud.
On June 28, Anza resident Diane May Black pleaded guilty to one count of burglary for an offense that occurred in April of this year. Judge Angel M. Bermudez will issue a sentence on Aug. 12. However, Black’s plea agreement included serving time in the Riverside County Sheriff followed by probation.
Cook, who was arrested on April 19, for inflicting corporeal punishment to a spouse (PC 273.5(A)) pleaded guilty on June 29. He also was before Judge Bermudez, who denied probation and sentenced Cook to two years in state prison. This sentence will run concurrently with two other felony convictions against Cook, including making criminal threats and taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent.
