Skinhead From Rancho Santa Margarita Gets Prison For Home Invasion

A skinhead from Rancho Santa Margarita and another from Orange County have pleaded guilty to a home invasion robbery that will send them to prison for at least 15 years.

The two men, Mitchell Highley, 24, of Rancho Santa Margarita, and Brian Merle Sawin, 25, of Orange County, will be sentenced July 8 by Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Menninger.

The two were charged with first-degree robbery in concert, first degree burglary, assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, and street terrorism.

The incident took place on Feb. 16, 2009, in San Clemente. They and a third man, Stephen Jeffrey Clevenger, were contacted by Roarke Ryan Ocampo, who felt he had a relationship with the female victim that was more than platonic. When the woman took up with a boyfriend, Ocampo sought "retribution" against her, said Jim Mendelson, senior district attorney.

Ocampo sweetened the deal, Mendelson said, by telling the three men that 50 pounds of marijuana and $7,000 cash was in the residence. The men found the woman in bed asleep with her boyfriend, but there was no pot or money at the residence. They physically assaulted the boyfriend—his injuries were minor—and beat her over the head with a sock that had a padlock inside it.

"They pulled the female out of bed and held a knife to her neck," Mendelson said. At least one of the two guns used in the crime was a BB gun that looked like the real thing.

When the men sensed that the police were on their way, they left the residence but Sawin somehow got left behind and was subsequently identified.

Clevenger committed suicide late last year while in jail. Sawin pleaded guilty against the advice of his attorney.

Mendelson said the case was easy to prosecute "in that the sheriff investigation was so good in follow-up with DNA evidence, phone evidence." It was the most thoroughly investigated case he had seen outside of homicide, he said.

Highley, Sawin and Clevenger were members of an Orange County white racist criminal street gang.

Ocampo pleaded guilty in September to two counts of first degree robbery, assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, and false report of a criminal offense. He received 12 years in prison.

Since 2005, Highley has had about a dozen run-ins with the law, from not wearing his seatbelt—his first offense—to receiving stolen equipment and possession of a controlled substance.