The Washoe County District Attorney's Office has announced that 38-year-old Michael Ralph Robinson Jr. has been adjudicated a habitual criminal and sentenced in District Court on Wednesday.
They say Robinson was convicted on multiple burglary and grand larceny charges and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
The Washoe County DA's Office says he previously pled guilty in August to 21 felony counts of burglary (13 counts) and Grand Larceny (eight counts).
They say this was Robinson's seventh felony event in a criminal history spanning over 18 years.
The Washoe County DA's Office says that based on this, Deputy District Attorney (DDA) Michael Bolenbaker filed notice of intent to seek habitual criminal status for sentencing purposes.
They say the sentencing stemmed from an investigation conducted by the Northern Nevada Repeat Offender Program (ROP).
ROP detectives began investigating Robinson in August 2018 after receiving information about a series of slot machine burglaries that had occurred throughout Washoe County between May and July.
They say based on the investigation, detectives determined that 14 slot machine burglaries had been committed, resulting in over $35,000 in loss for the involved restaurants and bars.
The Washoe County DA's Office says Robinson was identified as the suspect in all the burglaries.
They say a co-defendant, 38-year-old Mathew Michael Wiley was also identified as being involved in three of the burglaries.
The Washoe County DA's Office says surveillance footage collected from the targeted locations shows the suspects breaking into the restaurants and prying open the slot machines before taking the money inside.
They say Robinson and Wiley were located and arrested.
The Washoe County DA's Office says Wiley ultimately pled guilty in May to one count of grand larceny and was sentenced in June to 10 years in prison with the possibility of parole after four years have been served.
They say at sentencing, DDA Bolenbaker argued at sentencing that Robinson's repeated offenses and criminal history was deserving of a lifetime sentence.
