Court convicts burglar

The man Newport Beach police called the “Dinnertime Burglar” was convicted Thursday of first-degree burglary and faces up to life in prison, prosecutors said.

Paul Layton Keesling, 50, of Lancaster, was convicted in a Fullerton courtroom Thursday 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 40 years to life in prison at his March 19 sentencing, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Terry Cleaveland.

Though he was convicted of just the one burglary, Newport Beach police say Keesling was responsible for more than 20 similar crimes in the city.

Police claim he stole millions of dollars’ worth of jewelry, guns and cash.

He often burglarized unoccupied homes between 5 and 11 p.m., officials said.

Authorities speculate Keesling was stealing from people’s homes for more than 20 years up and down the Southern California coast, from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

Until the summer of 2008, police did not know who Keesling was. But in 2007, he left some skin cells on the knob of a drawer inside a walk-in closet during a burglary, and police used that DNA to identify him. With his name flagged by police, a run-in with San Diego police spelled the end of Keesling’s run.