A former Beeville resident facing two counts of car theft was sentenced last week to two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to violating the terms of his probation.

The violation: failing to pay court costs, fines and probation costs.

Court officials say he was also caught trying to steal two automobiles and fleeing from a peace officer.

District Court Judge Janna Whatley also ordered Juan Delatorre III to pay a $1,500 fine and $1,000 in restitution in connection with allegations he failed to abide by the terms of his community supervision.

Delatorre, 29, was convicted in August 2007 of delivery of marijuana, between one-quarter ounce and five pounds, a state jail felony offense. He was placed on four years probation and ordered to pay a $1,500 fine and restitution to the DPS crime lab.

Bee County sheriff’s investigators said one of their undercover informants was able to purchase the marijuana from Delatorre at a Beeville motel on Nov. 3, 2006.

In March 2009, the Bee County District Attorney’s office filed documents to revoke his probation after he was arrested on a charge of fleeing from a peace officer, and because he had failed to pay fines, court costs and probation costs and other costs.

A Corpus Christi police officer said he spotted Delatorre in an area of town late that night, and that Delatorre took off running. Delatorre scaled a 6-foot privacy fence surrounding a home and when he jumped down to the other side he hit his head on a pipe and officers were able to nab him while he moaned in pain, according to court records.

Delatorre pleaded guilty to violating his probation and asked Whatley to decide his punishment.

Delatorre was in court earlier this month to help his girlfriend try to regain custody of their children, who have been placed in foster care.

District Court Judge Joel Johnson noted aloud that Delatorre was wearing an orange county jail jumpsuit and shackled, and, therefore, was likely in trouble with the law and unlikely able to care for the children.

Delatorre admitted at the time he was facing a charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

However, an official with the adult probation department notified Johnson that Delatorre was facing two counts of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, each one a state jail felony offense.

He has yet to be tried on those two felony charges.

“You need to think about getting a new career,” Johnson told Delatorre, apparently referring to the felon’s failure as a criminal.