Clovis woman involved in carjacking and SWAT standoff sentenced to prison
A Clovis woman, whose arrest for carjacking triggered a standoff with SWAT officers, was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday.
Natalie Grado, 27, pleaded no contest to stealing a 2013 black Mini Cooper from a man on Feb. 24 2019 near the area of Locan and Gettysburg avenues in Clovis.
The victim told Clovis police a man and a woman assaulted him and then stole the car. Grado was identified as one of the suspects and police tracked her down to a home on Swift Avenue, near Ashlan and Locan avenues.
When police arrived, they said the occupants at the home refused to come out. The SWAT team was called and after an hour standoff, Grado and the others emerged. Grado was arrested and charged with carjacking, buying and receiving stolen property and falsely representing herself to officers.
The Fresno County District Attorney’s office agreed to drop the charges of buying stolen property and falsely representing herself in exchange for a no contest plea on carjacking.
Grado’s defense attorney Miles A. Harris said his client would have faced more than 20 years in prison had she gone to trial and been convicted by a jury. Grado was also on probation for a 2017 residential burglary conviction and has battled drug addiction, Harris said.
“She knows this could have been a lot worse,” Harris said.
Grado told Harris she would like to continue seeking help in prison for her addiction to methamphetamine.
During her sentencing Tuesday before Judge Gary Hoff, she acknowledged her mistakes and took responsibility for her actions. “She was not there to deny her involvement, she knows what she did was unacceptable,” Harris said.
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 3:48 PM.
