EVERETT — A Marysville man was sentenced to 29 years in prison Wednesday for breaking into a Snohomish couple’s home, robbing them and shooting the husband in the back multiple times.
After a trial in late February that lasted 5½ days, a jury convicted Eleazar Cabrera of first-degree assault and first-degree robbery for the December 2022 home invasion.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Edirin Okoloko sentenced Cabrera, 34, to just over 29 years in prison Wednesday. In a bench trial the day of his sentencing, Okoloko found Cabrera guilty of a third count — unlawful firearm possession.
Early the morning of Dec. 16, 2022, the couple heard footsteps in their Snohomish home. Two masked men came in the bedroom. The husband recognized one of them as “Poncho,” also known as Eleazar Cabrera, according to the charges. Cabrera was armed with a handgun, while the other man had a shotgun.
The two men rummaged through the couple’s belongings, pointing guns at the wife, court documents said. The husband stood up and said, “you’re not going to do that to my wife,” calling Cabrera by his nickname.
Cabrera shot the husband three times from behind, prosecutors wrote. The men fled.
One of the bullets hit the man’s prosthetic hip. Doctors believe if it wasn’t for the prosthetic, the bullet would’ve broken a bone and severed an artery, the charges said.
After a monthlong investigation, the Snohomish County Violent Offender Task Force arrested Cabrera in Arlington.
The other suspect was charged in October 2023 with first-degree burglary and first-degree robbery for his alleged involvement in the home invasion.
Before this case, Cabrera had eight felony convictions as an adult, including three for unlawful firearm possession, according to court records.
In 2015, Cabrera pleaded guilty to pointing a gun at his neighbor’s face and threatening a deputy’s family. He was released from custody in 2019.
In November 2o22, prosecutors also charged him with arson, accusing him of lighting his girlfriend’s car on fire and threatening her. At his arraignment in that case, prosecutors pushed for Superior Court Judge Jon Scott to set bail at $25,000. On Nov. 28, 2022, less than a month before the shooting in Snohomish, the judge instead released Cabrera from jail, with the condition he not have any guns, court records show.
That case remained pending this week.
Jonathan Tall: 425-339-3486; jonathan.tall@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @snocojon.
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