Ex-Cop, Wife Sentenced for Trashing Foreclosed Home

A former San Diego Police officer and his wife were sentenced Friday for trashing their French Valley home after a bank foreclosed on it.

In May, a jury convicted Robert Conrad Acosta, 40, and his wife, Monique Acosta, 36, of stealing fixtures and destroying property. They were each sentenced Friday to nine months in jail and five years' probation, The Press-Enterprise reported.

The couple was evicted from their home on Via Laguna in French Valley in 2010. After negotiating with their bank to keep the house, the couple offered a "cash-for-keys" deal; they would leave the home in good condition if the bank paid $10,000. The bank declined.

The couple went on a rampage in the house, ripping out fixtures, such as lights, countertops, drawers, cabinet doors, rod iron railings and landscaping.

When the bank got the property, various scribbles and childish drawings of flowers and mermaids were spray painted on the walls. Stone facing was ripped off walls inside and out and left in piles. Black hair dye was scrubbed into grout. Trees were cut at the stump and found floating in the pool, and epoxy was dumped at the bottom. Lines to the heater were cut, and air conditioning units were missing.

The couple took only what they believed belonged to them, . The Acostas had a very short time to vacate the house, which explains the huge mess, he told the jury.

the couple was trying to get revenge on the bank for turning down its deal. This was the couple's way of "waving goodbye to the bank without putting up four of their fingers," Garrett said.

The couple offered to make a "cash-for-keys" deal with the bank; if they got the money, the bank would get the house in good condition. The bank declined.
Photos shown during the trial showed the couple and some friends stripping rock facing from the home's exterior, removing drawers, taking down a garage door and cutting trees down at their stumps.

The couple was also ordered to pay restitution.

Because they have a 5-year-old daughter, the judge agreed to allow them to stagger their jail time, the newspaper reported.