MORONGO VALLEY MAN, JUST CONVICTED OF ANOTHER CRIME, ARRESTED AGAIN

A Morongo Valley man who accepted a plea bargain earlier this month for attempted robbery and who hadn’t even started his jail term yet, was arrested again Friday, accused of vandalism. About 2:40 p.m. Friday, deputies were called to the 6900 block of Emerson Avenue in Yucca Valley where a resident said Joshua Botts, 18, had taken a pipe and smashed the windshield and body of a 2014 Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck. Botts was arrested for investigation of felony vandalism, booked into the Morongo Basin Jail, and is being held without bail with a court date set for today. On March 6, Joshua Botts accepted a plea bargain that reduced his charge of robbing two Circle K convenience stores in February to attempted robbery. He was given three years of probation and scheduled to start his 6 months of work release jail time April 13.