A Turlock man already scheduled to a jail term for a robbery conviction, will now be headed to prison after racking up several burglary offenses.

Daniel Laurens Kahler, 36, was convicted on July 30 of two counts of residential burglary and sentenced to 12 years and eight months in state prison.

In January of 2017, Kahler stole some merchandise from a store in Turlock. When confronted by a store employee, he threatened the employee with a box cutter, which elevated the crime from simple theft to a felony robbery.

On March 26, 2018, as part of a plea agreement, Kahler pled no contest to the robbery, which counted as a strike under California’s “Three Strikes” law and could be used to double his punishment for any future felony conviction he might receive. The court ordered him to surrender in June to begin serving a 240-day jail sentence, reported the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office.

In April of 2018, prior to his surrender date, Kahler was employed by a contractor doing work on a home in Oakdale. While working there, Kahler took cash and jewelry valued at over $3,000 from inside the home over multiple days, according to the district attorney’s office. When the family discovered things missing and reported the theft, Kahler was confronted by the general contractor. He admitted taking the jewelry and selling it at a pawn shop. He was arrested and charged with residential burglary and violating his felony probation for robbery. He posted bail on the new charges and was released from custody.

Kahler then failed to appear in court on July 23, 2018, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. At his next court hearing on July 27, he was in jail custody. A few months later he once again posted bail and was released into the community. Four days later, he was caught breaking into a neighbor’s home in Turlock. The neighbor, a senior citizen, found Kahler in her bedroom closet and immediately called law enforcement. After a brief standoff with Turlock Police officers, he was taken into custody. Kahler admitted breaking into the home through an unlocked window and apologized to the officers asking them to give him a “second chance,” the district attorney’s office reported.

Kahler pled no contest to committing the two residential burglaries and admitted his previous “strike” conviction for robbery. He was then sentenced by Judge Thomas Zeff to a total of 12 years and eight months in state prison on all his cases. Due to the nature of these crimes, Kahler must serve a minimum of 60 percent of his time in actual prison custody.