Denzel sentenced for Kentlands theft

‘‘Young man, I think you’ve gotten enough wake-up calls,” Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Eric M. Johnson told Denzel.

Initial charges of first degree burglary and false statement to an officer were later dropped as part of a plea agreement, according to police charging documents filed in Circuit Court in Rockville.

According to the documents, Denzel was involved with the August 2006 burglary in the Kentlands in which $259,820 in cash, jewelry and electronics were stolen from an apartment, according to the documents.

Denzel admitted to pawning two bracelets taken from the apartment, located on Chevy Chase Street, though he denied knowing they were stolen, according to Denzel’s attorney, Rene Sandler of Sandler Law LLC in Rockville.

Joshua Kane Mancebo, 22, of Gaithersburg pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first degree burglary in January, and Denzel’s brother, Jaime Denzel, 23, of Gaithersburg, pleaded guilty to first degree burglary in January, according to an online court database.

According to the police charging documents, Jaime Denzel, who lived with his parents in the building where the burglary occurred, knew that the woman who lived in the apartment was going on vacation. His mother was president of the homeowner’s association and had a key to the woman’s apartment, the documents state.

‘‘I’m sorry her home was violated,” Denzel said. ‘‘...[The victim] describes me as a thug in her statement. I am not a thug. I am a 30-year-old father.”

Denzel has been a stay-at-home father since he broke his back while working at a grocery store in 2004, he said. Denzel’s wife, Ann Denzel, said in court Tuesday that she works 60 hours a week and is unable to afford childcare.

Though the mood turned contentious at times, with tensions high among Timothy Denzel’s family, community members and the attorneys both in and out of the courtroom, each side said the sentence was fair.

‘‘Nobody... has ever expressed one ounce of regret or remorse,” the owner of the apartment, Helene Berman, said in court. ‘‘I know people make mistakes, but my God, at least say you’re sorry.”

Denzel was charged with armed robbery in April in connection with a robbery at the Bank of America in Olde Towne, according to police.

The trial for that case is scheduled in the fall.