Sacramento judge sentences man who broke into house, threatened to kill woman

A Sacramento County judge sentenced a man to more than 20 years in prison on Thursday after he was found guilty of breaking into a home with a BB gun while children were present and threatening to kill a woman.

In a news release, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said Joshua Thomas, 48, was given 20 years and four months in prison for a 2019 crime of stalking, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, making criminal threats and child endangerment.

On Nov. 22, 2019, Thomas approached a home in Sacramento County and shot a BB gun into its sliding glass door, shattering it near a couch where a woman and two small children were sitting.

Holding the BB gun, Thomas threatened to kill the woman in front of the children following what the District Attorney’s office described as a pattern of harassment, threats and stalking for more than a year. He had also violated a restraining order by coming to the home.

The victims were able to run from the home and called the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, whose deputies arrested Thomas that same day, according to jail records.

On Feb. 4, 2021, a jury returned a guilty verdict to Thomas, who had denied all charges against him, according to Sacramento County court records. Thomas was previously convicted on a voluntary manslaughter charge in 2001.

He is currently being held at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 2:54 PM.