Filed 4/28/21 P. v. Thomas CA4/1

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COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

COOPER THOMAS,

Defendant and Appellant.

 D077371

 (Super. Ct. No. SCD284533)

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, 

Polly H. Shamoon, Judge. Affirmed.

Karissa Adame, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for 

Defendant and Appellant.

Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant 

Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Steve 

Oetting and Anthony Da Silva, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and 

Respondent.

BACKGROUND

On December 14, 2019, defendant entered a clothing store on Fifth 

Avenue in downtown San Diego. He took multiple pairs of socks worth over 
2

$40. The store supervisor observed defendant and tried to stop him. 

However, defendant swung his arm, struck and injured the supervisor’s nose 

and face. Defendant then fled from the store. This conduct was captured on 

surveillance cameras and the supervisor provided the footage to the police. 

The supervisor also provided the police with a photograph showing defendant 

loitering outside the store. In a photo lineup provided by the police, the 

supervisor identified defendant as the person who took the socks and injured 

her on December 14. The police used defendant’s photograph to create and 

then send out a bulletin to law enforcement. An officer recognized 

defendant’s photo as someone he had arrested for public intoxication on 

December 13. On December 19, another officer spotted defendant walking 

down Fourth Avenue in San Diego and, recognizing him from the bulletin, 

arrested him. 

The store manager provided a record of the store’s economic loss and 

indicated defendant had stolen from the store multiple times.

Defendant was charged in an information filed by the San Diego 

District Attorney with robbery in violation of Penal Code1 section 211 (count 

1) and grand theft from the person of another in violation of section 487, 

subdivision (c) (count 2). 

By way of a negotiated plea bargain, and pursuant to People v. West

(1970) 3 Cal.3d 595 (West), defendant pleaded guilty to grand theft from the 

person of another. The plea pursuant to West did not admit a factual basis 

for the plea. The People in return, dismissed the robbery count. They 

stipulated to having no opposition to local time, with release to a behavioral 

health program, and termination of probation in six misdemeanor cases. 

1 Further statutory references are to the Penal Code.
3

Defendant was sentenced to one year in jail, thereafter being set for 

release to an authorized behavioral health program, and placed on formal 

probation for three years with certain terms and conditions, including an 

electronic device search waiver condition. 

Defendant filed a timely notice of appeal. 

DISCUSSION

As he did at the time of sentencing, defendant challenges on appeal 

probation condition No. 6n, which requires he submit his “person, vehicle, 

residence, property, personal effects, computers, and recordable media 

including electronic devices to search at any time with or without a warrant, 

and without reasonable cause, when required by (probation officer) or law 

enforcement officer.” The waiver embodied in condition No. 6 did not apply to 

medical, legal, financial records, and any data before defendant’s acceptance 

of probation. Defendant contends that even so limited, the condition is 

unreasonable under People v. Lent (1975) 15 Cal.3d 481, 486 (Lent) and In re 

Ricardo P. (2019) 7 Cal.5th 1113 (Ricardo P.) The court noted defendant 

was the subject of six prior misdemeanor convictions and throughout the 

processing of those cases, defendant failed to give any consistent name, 

birthdate or place of birth to the probation department. Therefore, the court 

system could not connect the names to prior or existing cases.2 The trial 

courts and probation were finding it very difficult to monitor him. With 

respect to these cases, not including the stay-away order in this case, there 

were at least two other stay-away orders issued.

With respect to the search waiver condition (condition No. 6n) the court 

stated:

2 The court ordered defendant to provide a copy of his birth certificate to 

the probation department within 60 days.
4

“The reason I’m imposing the Fourth (Amendment) Waiver is so that 

Probation has all the tools it needs to make sure you are compliant with 

probation. That is to make sure you are at the treatment facility, that you 

are complying with [the] absolute no contact order of these people. You don’t 

reach out either directly or indirectly to contact them.

“In terms of future criminality and the third prong of Lent, I’m looking 

at a criminal record that dates back to 2004 with over a dozen convictions. 

Almost each and every time you’re on probation for one case when another is 

committed. And there have been a variety of drug and theft offenses and 

violations of not cooperating with law enforcement.”

Commenting further on defendant’s criminal history, the court noted 

defendant had shown a very distinct pattern comprising nearly eight pages in 

the probation report showing his violations of the terms and conditions of 

probation. The court stated that placing a Fourth Amendment waiver on 

defendant was a way probation could ensure he was not directly or indirectly 

contacting or trying to locate victims in his cases, or violating any of three 

stay-away locations—the downtown clothing store in the instant case, as well 

as a Vons market and Goodwill location on Park Boulevard. The court said, 

“Based on your past record, I want Probation to have all the tools so that it 

can help you be compliant . . . .”

Given his use of multiple names and birth dates, his history of

willingness to violate probation orders, as well as the resulting difficulty 

tracking defendant to assure he was not continuing to violate court orders, 

we conclude that requiring his communication systems and technology used 

to contact others to be open for examination is not unreasonable. We 

conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in imposing the 

electronic search condition. (Carbajal, supra, 10 Cal.4th at p. 1120.) 
5

Defendant also contends that the electronic search condition is 

unconstitutionally overbroad. The court tailored the condition to exclude 

searches of medical and legal information, financial accounts or transactions, 

and any data created before defendant accepted the grant of probation. The 

condition is not overbroad as tailored. (See People v. Patton (2019) 41 

Cal.App.5th 934, 946; In re Sheena K. (2007) 40 Cal.4th 875, 890.)

DISPOSITION

The judgment is affirmed.

BENKE, Acting P. J.

WE CONCUR:

O'ROURKE, J.

IRION, J.