Update, Dec. 12, not guilty plea.
The Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office is preparing to prosecute Tod Morton of Walnut Creek on charges of false imprisonment and robbery in connection with an unusual visit to a Lafayette house on Oct. 14.
Morton, age 51, entered a plea of not guilty Dec. 7. He has a date in county Superior Court on Jan. 25.
, accused of hiring a day laborer outside a home improvement store in Concord to come to a home on Lucas Court, Lafayette, to do some work. Morton was a caretaker at the Lafayette house, police reported. At the Lafayette residence, Morton impersonated a police officer and handcuffed the man after accusing him of being in the United States illegally, and then stole his cellphone, Senior Deputy District Attorney Bruce Flynn said, according to the Contra Costa Times.
