Assault

Convicted Felon Who Robbed, Assaulted Deaf Man Sentenced to 12 Years

In exchange for his admissions, prosecutors dropped a sentence-enhancing allegation of targeting a victim with disabilities

A convicted felon who struck and robbed a deaf man outside a Riverside coffeehouse, and also committed a separate robbery, was sentenced today to 12 years in state prison.

Daniel Allen Estramera, 24, of Riverside pleaded guilty earlier this month to two counts of robbery. In exchange for his admissions, prosecutors dropped a sentence-enhancing allegation of targeting a victim with disabilities and a related count of witness intimidation.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Helios Hernandez certified the terms of the plea agreement and imposed the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense.

In February 2016, Estramera's co-defendant, 24-year-old Dawone Anthony Finnell, pleaded guilty to robbery, being in possession of a controlled substance, presenting false identification to a law enforcement officer and a sentence-enhancing allegation of targeting a victim with disabilities. He was sentenced to 14 years behind bars.

Both men were arrested for the May 2015 attack on a man identified in court documents only as "Christian." However, after Estramera was taken into custody, he was also charged with an April 2015 robbery involving another Riverside man, though the circumstances of that offense were not readily available.

According to Riverside police, the assault and robbery happened about 1 a.m. on May 19, 2015, outside the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Mission Inn Avenue, just across from the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa.

The then-20-year-old victim was relaxing at a patio table, using his MacBook laptop, when the defendants approached him and casually engaged him in conversation, according to police. Investigators believe the defendants were sizing up the young man.

Estramera and Finnell briefly left the area, along with another man who was never identified, but the two defendants returned moments later and scanned their surroundings, according to security surveillance video posted by police to generate leads in the case.

Estramera turned and walked toward the victim's table, snapped shut his laptop and then threw several blows to the hapless man's face, knocking him out of his seat and onto the ground.

The tape showed the victim struggling to grab onto his computer as he fell, but letting go amid a flurry of punches from Finnell. The assailants initially fled with the laptop, but returned a second later to snatch more of the man's possessions as he lay on the ground.

After the tape was made public, investigators received a swirl of emails and calls.

According to court records, Estramera was a two-strike felon with convictions out of San Bernardino County for robbery and grand theft. Finnell had priors for auto theft, assault and robbery, records showed

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