{"id":718282,"date":"2026-06-05T21:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T21:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/718282\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T21:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T21:12:16","slug":"jose-altuve-burglary-suspect-gets-22-years-after-1-million-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/718282\/","title":{"rendered":"Jose Altuve burglary suspect gets 22 years after $1 million theft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"Houston Astros Jose Altuve takes live batting practice before an MLB baseball game in Houston, Wednesday, June 3, 2026.\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-gray200 mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Houston Astros Jose Altuve takes live batting practice before an MLB baseball game in Houston, Wednesday, June 3, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Jason Fochtman\/Staff photographer<\/p>\n<p>Astros second baseman Jose Altuve packed up his Hedwig Village home and moved following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/news\/houston-texas\/crime\/article\/houston-astros-jose-altuve-home-break-in-18081475.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a 2023 break-in that led to the arrests of five people<\/a> in connection to the $1 million theft of his designer watches and gold jewelry, a prosecutor said during a punishment hearing Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One of the men behind the burglary was sentenced to 22 years imprisonment \u2014 about half of what prosecutor Jacob Salinas asked from a judge.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Altuve, he said, wanted more \u2014 specifically a life sentence.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Salinas called the theft &#8220;one of the biggest heists&#8221; that Houston had ever seen \u2014 and it left Altuve&#8217;s family feeling vulnerable and fearful.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He had to put things and dreams aside because he can&#8217;t have the house or the yard that he wants \u2014 and feel safe while he&#8217;s on the road traveling,&#8221; Salinas said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Altuve is married with two daughters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MM_onlineOnly\" title=\"CCI Online Only\">READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/astros\/article\/jose-altuve-returns-to-houston-22293253.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Jose Altuve is back with Astros after being out nearly three weeks with strained oblique muscle<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>The 36-year-old Astros player detailed his worries in a letter translated from Spanish that Salinas described. The letter wasn&#8217;t read out loud for Judge Katherine Thomas in the 184th District Court, but it was shared in a pre-sentencing investigation report for Thomas to read about defendant Patrick Maxey, whose sentence the judge decided following the hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Maxey pleaded guilty to the burglary of a habitation charge last November.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecution did not call Altuve to testify at the hearing. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/astros\/article\/jose-altuve-returns-to-houston-22293253.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">He returned to the starting lineup<\/a> following the hearing after being on the injured list since mid-May with a strained oblique muscle.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Swift timeline behind break-in<\/p>\n<p>When the\u00a0Astros threw the first pitch at 6:14 p.m. on March 30, 2023, Maxey and others were poised to gather in south Houston for the break-in. An investigator with the Harris County District Attorney&#8217;s Office walked the judge through a minute-by-minute timeline of Maxey&#8217;s movements based on phone and vehicle GPS records, according to testimony.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Maxey and a second man were dropped off at Altuve&#8217;s home around 8 p.m. The duo scaled a neighbor&#8217;s fence to access the property and wandered around Altuve&#8217;s pool trying to figure out how to enter the home. Around 8:30 p.m., the men used a potted plant to climb through a window, according to court records.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They were out within 10 minutes and were seen on surveillance cameras with bags of goods.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Altuve returned about 9:30 p.m. to find the pot misplaced on his back patio. He then found that more than a half dozen watches, one worth at least $420,000, and assorted gold jewelry had been taken from a bedroom, according to search warrants.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Maxey, who was on parole at the time of the break-in, was among those arrested in the weeks to come. Police confronted him weeks later as he rode a horse.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His defense attorney, Edward Jointer, said Maxey made no attempt to flee.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Jointer described Maxey as being a secondary player in the heist, whose troubled upbringing made him more susceptible to participating in the scheme. Maxey entered the criminal justice system as a juvenile and suffered abuse by one of his mother&#8217;s partners. His father was also incarcerated for much of his youth, according to testimony.<\/p>\n<p>The attorney identified William Jones as the mastermind. Jones was sentenced in December to 25 years for his role in the theft.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Houston Astros Jose Altuve (27) walks to the batting cages during Spring Training  at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026.\" loading=\"lazy\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-gray200 mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Houston Astros Jose Altuve (27) walks to the batting cages during Spring Training  at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Safety and security\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The judge said she started the hearing with a particular punishment in mind, but the work of Maxey&#8217;s attorneys convinced her to consider a different sentence for Maxey.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;After learning more information about you, I&#8217;ve come to a different decision,&#8221; Thomas said. &#8220;This doesn&#8217;t in any way eliminate the fact that you have made a lot of horrible decisions, and you&#8217;ve robbed a lot of people and their safety and their security.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The fact that Altuve was the victim in the case did not factor into her decision, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;People, when they go back into their homes, have felt violated because of your conduct and I&#8217;m sure you wouldn&#8217;t want that to happen to your grandmother or to your mother,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if this incident will wake you up, but I owe it to this community to protect them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Charges remain pending for two other people linked to the theft.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jordan Tarniella pleaded guilty to burglary of a habitation in March 2025, but he cut off his ankle monitor months later before a judge could sentence him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Related charges of hindering apprehension and evading arrest against Jasmyn Hall, Jones&#8217; girlfriend, remain pending, with court records showing prosecutors have flagged her as their witness against the others.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A jeweler who looked at the watches with Jones was charged with theft, but prosecutors dismissed his case in the interest of justice, court records show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston Astros Jose Altuve takes live batting practice before an MLB baseball game in Houston, Wednesday, June 3,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2389],"tags":[42,5,89879,139,54,3211,4,89878],"class_list":["post-718282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-astros","tag-astros","tag-baseball","tag-hc-crime","tag-houston","tag-houston-astros","tag-houstonastros","tag-mlb","tag-tsn-astros"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116699564864692484","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}