By Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com
A Roseville gang member has been sentenced to 36 years to life in state prison by a Placer County judge who noted the defendant had spent nearly 80 percent of his adult life in custody.
Jose Vincent Rubal Jr. (left), 39, received the sentence Tuesday after Superior Court Judge Jeff Penney denied his motion to dismiss prior serious offenses in hopes of getting a lighter prison term. Rubal is a "three-strikes" offender. (California's three-strikes law allows harsher sentences for repeat felons.)
At least two of his prior crimes involved assaults with a knife. The judge figured that Rubal has spent 6,350 days of his adult life in custody, according to a press release from the Placer County District Attorney's office.
Most recently, Rubal crossed the law when Roseville police tried to make a traffic stop on him Dec. 16, 2008.
Rubal abandoned the vehicle, which was registered to him and contained drugs and a gun.
He was arrested two months later in Oklahoma.
While in custody, Rubal made phone calls in an effort to get fellow gang members to take responsibility for driving his car in the 2008 incident, according to prosecutor Tracy Lunardi.
On Oct. 5, Rubal entered a no contest plea to felony charges of transporting a controlled substance and for trying to get someone else to take the rap in the traffic stop.
Lunardi credited the Roseville Police Department's Crime Suppression Unit with bringing Rubal to justice, the release states.
"They did a fantastic job in getting one of the worst gang members in Roseville off the streets," she said.
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