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Man Pleads Guilty To Hosting Vacant-Home Parties

Jovan Araujo To Spend One Year In County Jail

POSTED: 2:45 pm PST November 19, 2009
UPDATED: 10:06 am PST November 20, 2009

A young man who hosted an underage drinking party at a vacant home that was busted by sheriff's detectives posing as fishermen pleaded guilty to burglary, a sheriff's lieutenant said Friday.

Jovan Peter Araujo, 21, pleaded guilty Thursday to burglary in connection with a party he threw Aug. 14 at a vacant home on Country Club Drive in unincorporated Escondido.

A week before to the party, detectives determined Araujo was hosting rave parties at vacant and foreclosed North County homes, said sheriff's Lt. Phil Brust.

Detectives pretended to be fishermen after receiving information that party crew members would meet under the Oceanside Pier Aug. 6.

"The detectives threw a couple of lines in the water and waited," Brust said. "They didn't have to wait long ... they were able to stand just outside of the group and listen to plans and strategy for the next party."

Araujo was not at the meeting, but when authorities broke up the Aug. 14 party, they found about 50 young people who had paid to attend, and $1,500 in damage to the house, including windows Araujo broke to get in the house.

Following his guilty plea Thursday, Araujo was released into the custody of his parents so he could attend a memorial service for a family member, then return to jail Monday.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 12 to a year in jail.

A preliminary hearing for co-defendant Cynthia Munoz is scheduled for Dec. 1.
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