ESCONDIDO — A teenager looking for a cure to his summertime blues testified Sept. 23 he was allegedly robbed by a woman and her roommate.
Enersaen Beltran testified through the aid of an interpreter that he went by an Escondido donut shop around 8 a.m. Sept. 2 to grab some breakfast when he encountered a woman who he said propositioned him for sex.
Beltran, who was 19 at the time, said as he and Misty Byrd walked back to her apartment on Orange Street that she talked him into paying her $20 for an hour of sex. The teenager said he believed her offer was too good to be true, but after some coaxing by Byrd he agreed to the proposition.
Though Beltran said he accepted Byrd’s offer, he testified he didn’t even care about having sex, he just wanted to use the time to talk; he said he didn’t want to be bored. As he stood at Byrd’s door, he said she pushed him into her apartment and that is when John Robert Rosenthal, who was Byrd’s roommate, attacked Beltran with an aluminum baseball bat.
Byrd, 25 and Rosenthal, 42, are charged with one count each of first-degree robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit a crime.
Both have pleaded not guilty.
The defendants’ attorneys questioned Beltran’s credibility due to his repeated inconsistencies.
Superior Court Judge Joan Weber acknowledged Beltran concocted “five to 10 versions of the story” from the witness stand. Still, Weber said she had “no doubt” enough evidence was presented at the hearing to order Byrd and Rosenthal to stand trial for robbing the teenager.
Both defendants remain in custody. Their next scheduled court appearance is an Oct. 22 readiness conference.
Rosenthal has six prior felon convictions, five of which revolve around theft, dating back to 1985. All of his convictions are out of San Diego County.
If convicted, the defendants face up to three years in prison, Deputy District Attorney Scott Goldsmith said.
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