photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Daniel Martinez Sanchez is pictured at a hearing in Douglas County District Court on April 3, 2023.

A Lawrence man entered a no contest plea on Wednesday to a home burglary in which he was discovered by a 9-year-old girl, who has since been gathering a “cache of weapons” in case burglars ever return, according to a letter read to the court during another defendant’s sentencing hearing.

The man, Daniel Martinez Sanchez, 19, entered a plea in Douglas County District Court to one count of residential burglary in one case and two counts of aggravated assault in another. All of the charges are felonies; misdemeanor counts of theft and criminal damage were dismissed by the state as part of the plea agreement.

The burglary charge relates to an incident on March 3, 2022, in southeast Lawrence. Sanchez was found along with his co-defendant, Sarah D. Soto, 37, of Vinita, Oklahoma, by a 9-year-old girl who after finding the two in her home fled to a neighbor’s house and called her mom, as the Journal-World previously reported.

photo by: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

Sarah D. Soto

Sanchez and Soto left the house when the girl discovered them, but the neighbor was able to get a description of their vehicle, and police arrested the two later that day. They were arrested with $27 and a blue cup that they had taken from the house.

Soto pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated burglary in January, and on March 6, she was sentenced to two years in prison after the victim’s mother read a letter to the court describing the 9-year-old girl’s behavior since the incident, according to a transcript of Soto’s sentencing hearing obtained by the Journal-World.

“She would continuously wake us up numerous times throughout the night saying she heard noises, she heard voices, she heard doors opening. She became fixated on barricading doors at night,” the mother said.

The girl was paranoid and refused to be left alone without an adult day or night, the mother said. She told the court that the family eventually pulled the barricades down and that in response the girl started staying up all night.

The mother said that about a month after the incident the 9-year-old’s younger sibling came running through the house with the “largest steak knife” the family owns. The mother said the knife had been missing for a while and she thought it had been thrown away by accident. When the mother began to question the younger sibling about the knife, the 9-year-old began screaming and crying and said, “It was me, it was me,” according to the transcript.

“She proceeded to take me to her room and lift up her bed sheet to show me a cache of weapons that she had placed there for when the people came back,” the mother said.

The girl had also collected a pocketknife, a can of sunscreen and a tow rope.

“She honestly thought that if these people came back, she was going to tie them up,” the mother said.

Soto’s attorney, Phil Crawford, argued for Soto to receive probation and said that she had taken only $27 and that she thought she had permission to be in the house, according to the transcript.

“She took a cup with some juice in it and $27 from a wallet. I would think, if not for the bad judgment of doing that, she would have been simply charged with trespass,” Crawford said.

Assistant District Attorney David Greenwald argued against Soto getting probation in the case because of the trauma the little girl has experienced.

“You can’t undo the damage that was done to (her), no matter how much she works on it, and she will get better eventually, but no child should have to go through that for $27,” Greenwald said.

Sanchez is scheduled to be sentenced for the burglary charge on July 14, as well as his two aggravated assault charges. The assault charges relate to an incident on Jan. 24, when he tried to run over two people with his car.

Sanchez is currently in custody at the Douglas County Jail on a $10,000 cash or surety bond.