Willows man admits to robbery, burglary

One of two Willows men charged with kidnapping and robbing a Red Bluff man earlier this year, pleaded guilty Thursday in Glenn County Superior Court.

Tanner Young, 18, pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and burglary in connection with an April 8 incident in which police said he and another man, Joseph M. Oliveira, kidnapped, beat and robbed Samuel Crow of Red Bluff.

Young faces a maximum state prison sentence of seven years.

Prosecutors dismissed the kidnapping charge, according to District Attorney Robert S. Holzapfel, who said there was no plea deal.

“We just felt it was worth seven years,” Holzapfel said.

Oliveira, also 18, is also charged with kidnapping, robbery and burglary. He is set to appear in court again Oct. 14 and a four-day jury trial is slated to begin Oct. 25, court records state.

The reported kidnapping and robbery occurred at Central Park in Willows on the night of April 8.

During a May preliminary hearing, Crow testified that he had arranged to meet Young for coffee in Willows and, when he arrived at the meeting place in the park, Oliveira and Young beat him and tried to take his wallet.

Crow, 31, testified that he could not recall many of the details surrounding the reported attack, but said he did remember that Oliveira was responsible for most of the violence.

Police said Crow was set up for robbery.

Crow said he was forced into the back seat of his vehicle and driven back to his home in Red Bluff because, he said, Oliveira and Young wanted his wallet.

Crow’s home-security alarm prevented the burglary from taking place, police said.

He was released more than five after he was first reportedly abducted, around 2:30 a.m. in Willows. Police said they first took Crow’s vehicle through a car wash for unknown reasons and then left Crow in Willows without further incident.

Young will be sentenced Oct. 22 in Superior Court.