First Lost returns to the small screen with a vengeance. Then the burglar who held Josh Holloway and his wife at gunpoint agrees to spend 30 years behind bars? Not a bad week for the actor.
Ruben Royce, the 23-year-old Hawaiian man who was convicted on five different home invasions, including the armed robbery of Holloway and his wife at their Oahu home in October 2005, pleaded guilty Friday to 34 counts and agreed to a plea deal that will see him spend three decades in lockup.
Royce broke into the 38-year-old actor's home by jimmying a slightly ajar window. Once inside, he banged on the actor's bedroom door and, wielding a gun, demanded credit cards, wallets and jewelry before driving off in Holloway's Mercedes.
"They were just scared," prosecutor Maurice Arrisgado said of the Holloways, adding that he planned on inviting the couple to testify at Royce's formal sentencing on Apr. 29. Prosecutors plan to ask the parole board that Royce serve his entire 30-year sentence behind bars, despite the fact that the plea deal brokered does not specify a minimum time the young man must spend behind bars before becoming eligible for parole.
"They thought they were going to get killed," Arrisgado said. "This guy was very vicious and had no hesitation in pointing the gun in their face."
While Royce's public defender, Terry Marshall, claimed that his client was not aware he was robbing the home of a TV star until the subsequent media coverage of the incident, Royce's estranged mother, who had a restraining order out on her son, did live on the same street as the Holloways.
He subsequently also pleaded guilty to violating the restraining order.
"Basically, he was driving around looking for fancy cars, nice homes and picked certain ones for home invasion," Arrisgado said.
During the hearing, Marshall also said that drugs and youth played a part in his client's heinous offenses.
"He was young and engaged in really bad behavior," Marshall said. "And in this short spate of time, it spiraled around on itself."
"He's about 22 now, that's only like 52," Arrisgado added of Royce's sentence. "We are hoping that period of time might change his behavior, but you never know."
Last year, an Oahu jury convicted Royce on 34 counts of first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, second-degree theft, second-degree assault, firearms violations, kidnapping, driving a stolen car, breaking into a vehicle and reckless endangering in connection with five separate home invasions committed when he was just 20 years old.
All of the incidents were carried out over a three-week period in September and October of 2005.
As part of a plea agreement with Honolulu's deputy city prosecutor, Royce pleaded guilty to all charges.
"He stepped up because he is hoping to turn his life around," Marshall said.
For their part, the Holloways were not present at the arraignment hearing Friday, nor were they even present in Hawaii. While they continue to reside full time in Hawaii, the duo is currently in the mainland U.S. and had no comment on the proceedings.