Man sentenced to more than 46 years in prison for home invasion robberies

DOWNEY — A Las Vegas man convicted of three Southland home invasion robberies along with a burglary in Santa Monica in which a man was shot was sentenced Monday to 46 years and eight months in state prison.

Superior Court Judge Henry Hall called Vacho Shahen's crimes "extremely sophisticated and well-planned," saying that the only victim who resisted was shot.

The judge said his intention in sentencing Shahen was to "keep him (the defendant) out of society for as long as humanly possible."

Shahen, 39, was convicted May 31 of 15 charges, including three counts each of home invasion robbery and assault with a firearm, four counts of first-degree burglary and five counts of false imprisonment, stemming from the crime spree in Downey, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica over about a two-week period in August 2016.

Jurors also found true allegations that he used a gun during the crimes.

The victims in the early morning attacks in Downey and Beverly Hills were handcuffed during the robberies, with the victims in Downey subsequently left in handcuffs afterward, according to Deputy District Attorney David Borsack.

Jurors acquitted Shahen of an attempted murder charge involving the shooting of the man during the Santa Monica burglary, but found him guilty of the less serious crime of assault with a firearm. The defendant was also acquitted of an additional robbery charge involving one of the crimes in Downey.

Santa Monica police said in 2018 that they had identified Shahen as a suspect in the crimes and that he was being held at the time in federal custody in Philadelphia on an unrelated case.

Santa Monica police detectives and a forensics unit discovered DNA at the crime scene in Santa Monica that authorities used to eventually link Shahen to the home invasion robberies in Downey and Beverly Hills, police said then.

Shahen was returned to the Southland in November 2021.

After being advised that he had a right to appeal his conviction, Shahen asked the judge, "Can I say something, your honor?"

"No," the judge replied.