Gilroy woman sentenced for stealing from Seaside store and trying to return items for cash

32-year-old Linda Zabala has been sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing from the Seaside Home Depot and trying to return the stolen items for cash at the Salinas Home Depot.

Zabala also pled guilty to threatening a loss prevention officer.

Officials say on May 17th, at approximately 6:20pm, Zabala and her then-boyfriend, Oscar Caston, were approached by a Loss Prevention Officer at the Seaside Home Depot store when he noticed them trying to return merchandise with a receipt from a different store. When the officer attempted to speak with Zabala, she brandished a can of pepper spray at him and threatened to deploy it.

Zabala and Caston fled the store with several hundred dollars worth of stolen merchandise. Zabala and Caston then drove to the Salinas Home Depot and attempted to return for cash the items they had just stolen from the Seaside location.

Caston is considered a fugitive from justice whose whereabouts are currently unknown. There is an active warrant for his arrest.

Monterey County Superior Court Judge Robert A. Burlison sentenced Zabala to three years in prison, which will be served in the Monterey County Jail due to Realignment. This is her first felony conviction.