PORT ANGELES — A 27-year-old woman who caused about $300 in damage while she was naked in Chestnut Cottage Restaurant has been sentenced to more than four years in prison.
Lytezia Rose Montes of Port Angeles had pleaded guilty to second-degree residential burglary, a Class B felony, when she was sentenced Tuesday to 51 months by Clallam County Superior Court Judge Lauren Erickson. A charge of residential burglary, a Class B felony, was dismissed.
Montes’ criminal history includes three counts each of second-degree burglary and third-degree assault and one count of first-degree malicious mischief. The standard sentence range, based on her offender score, was 51 to 68 months.
At about 4:30 a.m. Aug. 10, a Chestnut Cottage worker heard a bread cover being thrown into the kitchen, noticed voices in the restaurant, and a woman later determined to be Montes was standing naked between the doorway and the kitchen, according to the probable cause statement.
After the worker told her to leave, Montes apologized and left through an open window, leaving broken glass on the floor of the restaurant.
When police arrived, a man at Aircrest Motel across East Front Street from Chestnut Cottage told an officer that a naked woman had run into his room. She refused to let him in, the man said.
Police discovered Montes sitting on the floor, bleeding from cuts, before she began to throw a mattress around the room. She was arrested following a struggle, according to the probable cause statement.
Police later discovered a screen on the window of the restaurant had been pulled off and a window was open. The lobby appeared to be ransacked, with drawers open and items littering the floor.
Between the lobby and dining room was a large puddle of balsamic vinegar.
Restaurant co-owner Tim Ochs said Wednesday Montes inflicted about $300 in damage, breaking the bottle of vinegar, smashing a hole in a wall and throwing some retail items out the window.
“She basically took off all her clothes outside the restaurant before she came in,” Ochs said.
“By the time I got there, she had run across the street to the motel.
“When I heard it was someone who was naked, I thought it was just mental illness or drugs.
“I wasn’t fearful or anything.
“Any time you get your business broken into, you feel violated.
“The police did an outstanding job getting here and then pursuing her.”
Ochs said he believes Montes’ punishment was fair.
Her sentencing range was determined by the number of her past criminal offenses, according to a press release from the prosecuting attorney’s office.
At her sentencing, Montes took issue with the allegation that she was using drugs at the time of the burglary, according to the court notes.
Montes understood the proceedings against her and could assist in her defense, according to a mental competency evaluation.
She told an evaluator she has been independent since when was 14, when she left home. She said she has a seizure disorder controlled with medication.
Montes has a history of mental health evaluations. According to one evaluator, she had Unspecified Mood Disorder.
On Aug. 10, following her arrest, she was often unclothed at the Clallam County jail, according to the evaluation.
She reported use of alcohol and multiple drugs the day of her arrest.
Montes claimed the police drugged her and were looking for reasons to arrest her.
“Discovery materials indicated significant impairment indicative of psychosis at the time of her arrest,” according to the most recent evaluation.