Brett Miller, a Watsonville man with a 40-year history of wild crimes, is going back to prison for two years after 15 years of freedom.
Miller, 62, was sentenced on Wednesday by Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Nancy de la Peña. Miller had earlier pleaded no contest to cockfighting and weapons possession charges stemming from his February 2023 arrest at the property he leased on Ranport Road outside of Watsonville.
De la Peña called Miller’s criminal record “appalling,” a word echoed by prosecutor Nicole Jones.
Miller was sentenced to federal prison in 1995 for two 1992 bank robberies in Merced County. He was released in 2011 and completed his parole.
Instead of state prison this time, Miller offered to wear an ankle monitor if he could remain out of custody.
“An electronic monitor was never even in my contemplation,” de la Peña said.
Deputies seized guns when Miller was arrested, and he later turned in three more guns. “And he still has a gun” that he has not turned in, Jones said.
A pre-sentencing report from the probation department said “significant risk factors stemming primarily from (Miller’s) extensive criminal history, prior prison commitment, prior supervision violations, and the nature of the present offenses” worked against allowing probation.
As Miller was being led out of the courtroom in handcuffs, the judge said, “Take good care of yourself,” which she says when sentencing people.
“Thank you,” Miller replied.
Miller’s partner, Angie Gonzales, 24, is facing similar charges. Her case is pending. Miller had told probation officers that he and Gonzales were married last week, but Jones produced documents showing that the couple had not applied for a marriage license until this week.
In a court filing in July, defense attorney Shane Kelly said Miller “immediately sought and gained employment and has not looked back” since being released from prison. Kelly listed 15 companies Miller has worked for, many of them in agriculture.
In a phone interview after Wednesday’s hearing, Kelly said Miller has an “excellent work ethic,” even though the jobs were “mostly menial labor.”
Miller was born and raised in Watsonville. His criminal history is dotted with bank robberies, escapes, high-speed chases, extortion, and even cattle rustling. His schemes often failed because they were too grandiose, but he was usually successful in escaping from custody or eluding police when he was on the streets.
His crimes drew front-page coverage over the years in the Pajaronian and other local media. He looks quite different from when his picture was in local newspapers in the 1990s. He’s a little heavier and his hair is gray.
In 1984, Miller, then 20, was a leader of a plot to extort money from Mitch Resetar, a Watsonville farmer. The plot was bungled, but authorities were unable to capture Miller at the time.
Among the crimes Miller botched was a plot to kidnap a Watsonville bank manager in 1985. A plan to kidnap a bank manager in San Luis Obispo in 1991 fell through when the manager alerted authorities before anybody could get to the bank with her keys.
At Miller’s home at the time in Hilmar, Merced County, authorities found an escape tunnel under the house.
In the early 1990s in Healdsburg, Sonoma County, Miller and an accomplice were suspected of breaking into a bank overnight. An employee who entered the bank in the morning was able to signal other workers that something was amiss. Police were unable to find the perpetrators.
Miller escaped from the old Santa Cruz jail on Front Street in 1986 by sliding down a pole from the rooftop exercise area and running through downtown in his orange jumpsuit. Miller broke out of the current jail on Water Street in 1991 when he and two others went over the wall.
In June 1985, Miller bolted from the van transporting him to Watsonville Municipal Court, shed his jumpsuit, and ran into the Crestview-Brewington area, clad only in his boxer shorts. He was caught 45 minutes later.
Miller eluded authorities on a half-dozen chases over the years, including one where he ran through thick shrubbery and jumped into the Pajaro River. In another case, in San Luis Obispo County, authorities caught him hiding in a water tank, shivering and soaking wet.
Lane Wallace is a former Pajaronian reporter who covered Brett Miller’s cases in the 1980s and 1990s.
