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An Irvine man has been sentenced to 72 months in federal prison for – while on supervised release for committing a prior federal felony – engaging in pimping and shooting a firearm at women on the streets of San Bernardino, the Justice Department announced.
Coby Christopher House, 23, was sentenced late Tuesday by United States District Judge David O. Carter.
House pleaded guilty on June 21 to one count of conspiracy to use a facility in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activity and two counts of unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition by a convicted felon.
In October 2019, while he was on supervised release for an alien smuggling conviction in San Diego federal court, House acted as a pimp, overseeing two women working in prostitution and receiving the money from their sex work. On October 10, 2019, House shot a firearm several times at other women working in prostitution who approached House’s two sex workers, who were then soliciting clients at the time. The other women were concerned that House’s women would attract the attention of law enforcement, according to court documents.
Law enforcement arrested House the following day after a two-mile, high-speed chase.
House admitted in his plea agreement to unlawfully possessing a .22-caliber revolver and a .380-caliber handgun and ammunition despite his prior felony conviction for alien smuggling.
“When he learned of a confrontation between the women working for him and other women working as prostitutes, [House] pulled out a gun and shot it many times at another person,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “Though he missed, this conduct is deserving of a long stretch in federal prison.”
Olbert Maximilian Lara, 23, of Riverside, a co-defendant in this case, pleaded guilty on April 19 to one count of being an accessory after the fact for being the driver of the car when House attempted to flee from police in October 2019. Lara was sentenced to three years of probation and was fined $500.
The FBI and the San Bernardino Police Department investigated this matter.
Assistant United States Attorneys Greg Scally and Kristin Spencer of the Santa Ana Branch Office prosecuted this case.
