The Region - News from May 6, 1987

A 28-year-old man was sentenced to 10 years in state prison for stealing 23 cars in a month, most of them from women behind the wheel of luxury cars, including actress Morgan Fairchild. Michael Lee Burton admitted the thefts when he pleaded guilty last month to 11 counts of robbery, 12 counts of grand theft auto and one count of attempted grand theft auto. He was sentenced by Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Richard Adler, who could have given Burton 12 years. Burton stole most of the cars using the “bump-and-rob” method, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michelle Rosenblatt said. Burton’s method involved staging a minor traffic accident, then stealing the cars, and often the purses, of his lone, distracted female victims as they inspected the damage, she said.