“Dinnertime Burglar” convicted

The man dubbed by Newport Beach police as the “Dinnertime Burglar” for a rash of break-ins at homes throughout the city, was convicted of one of those alleged crimes this morning, and faces up to 40 years in prison.

Paul Layton Keesling, 50, was convicted of first degree burglary in a Fullerton court this morning for stealing $250,000 in cash and jewelry from a Newport Beach home in 2007.

If the judge accounts for Keesling’s prior felony strikes on his record, Keesling faces at least 40 years to life in prison at his March 19 sentencing, prosecutors said.

Though he was convicted of just one burglary, Newport Beach police say Keesling was responsible for more than 20 burglaries in the city, stealing millions worth of jewelry, guns and cash. He often burglarized unoccupied homes between 5 and 11 p.m., police said.

Police pinned him to the 2007 burglary when they got traces of his DNA from skin cells he left on the nob of a drawer inside a walk-in closet.