By HOYT ELKINS

The Union Democrat

A Calaveras County judge Friday refused to go along with a plea deal that would have spared three Lodi residents prison time in connection with a series of burglaries along Highway 4.

The suspects — Elizabeth Katherine Baker, 47, Robert Alan Mulzet, 24, and Nikolas Demetrios Aftias, 20 — are represented by separate lawyers who have been mulling a plea deal since it was first proffered in early April. The terms of the deal had been dependent on a report from the county Probation Department.

When the report was received by the court, there was confusion as to whether the department was recommending prison time for all three suspects or if probation and suspended prison sentences would be appropriate.

Deputy District Attorney Seth Matthews summoned a representative from the Probation Department to court last Friday to clarify the issue, in order to advance an offer that had been made to all three defendants.

Calaveras County Superior Court Judge John E. Martin, after reading the probation report, said he would consider the District Attorney's offer of probation for Baker, but didn't think mere probation was appropriate for Mulzet and Aftias because of the sheer number of burglaries involved.

Baker, Mulzet and Aftias were arrested March 9 and charged with conspiring a series of heists in Arnold, Dorrington, and elsewhere along Highway 4. Prosecutors claim they used walkie-talkies to communicate with one another during the burglaries, and that they were caught with a purloined flat-screen TV, tools and other stolen items in their vehicle when they were arrested.

Details of the probation report have not been made public, so it was unclear as to why the department felt Baker's case differed from her co-defendants'.

Friday's court session ended after Matthews asked for, and was granted, permission to deal separately with each of the accused.

Judge Martin ordered them back to court at 11 a.m. June 6 for further pretrial proceedings. Baker is free on $45,000 bail. Mulzet and Aftias remain in custody.

Contact Hoyt Elkins at 736-4092 or helkins@uniondemo-crat.com