San Mateo father who shot at fleeing teen pranksters sentenced to one year in jail

A San Mateo father who fired two gunshots at the fleeing car of teenagers who egged his house last year was sentenced Monday to 364 days in jail and three years of probation.

Craig Steven Miceli, 55, pleaded no contest in May to felony assault and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon after the incident, which prosecutors have described as a potentially deadly response to teenage mischief. He also admitted to an enhancement for using a firearm.

Miceli was ordered to surrender to county jail in January.

“I would like to sincerely say how sorry I am,” Miceli said to the court at his sentencing hearing Monday. “I am thankful everyday to God that no one got hurt.”

San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey B. Jackson, who weighed the case’s aggravating factors of involving a firearm and great violence against the mitigating factors such as Miceli’s remorse, said that he understood Miceli’s motivation of protecting his children, but that he “went about it the wrong way.”

“This was a close call for the court. … He has expressed legitimate, severe remorse,” Jackson said when passing down the sentence. “I believe you didn’t know these people were kids at the time.”

Miceli was also ordered to pay restitution to one of the victims and a victims’ compensation board.

Josh Bentley, Miceli’s defense attorney, declined to comment.

San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said that the probation department had recommended state prison, but that Bentley wrote up a strong sentencing memo that “convinced the judge that this was a case to show some leniency.” Wagstaffe noted that the maximum sentence Miceli could have faced in this case was three years in state prison.

“Judge Jackson — he really weighs seriously the pros and cons. He would not have taken the probation department recommendation or our recommendaiton lightly. He would have truly taken it to heart and then done what he felt was right,” Wagstaffe said. “We would have imposed state prison, but … one year in the county jail is not a giveaway. It is a serious sentence still.

“No matter what, because there’s never any explanation here for doing what he did, there is no reasonable basis for what he did, and we’re glad he will spend the year in county jail, where he can reflect on his conduct,” he added.

Bentley said at the hearing that, at the time of the incident, Miceli did not know whether the people who vandalized his house were juveniles or not.

“There’s not question this is a very serious offense, and Mr. Miceli understands that,” Bentley said.

San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Brian M. Donnellan cited the fact that Miceli discarded his weapon after the shooting and was found to be in possession of a ghost gun but also acknowledged mitigating factors, including that Miceli is a single parent following the death of his children’s mother.

“This involves not just a display of firing a firearm, but it also hit a vehicle,” Donnellan said.

The incident occurred May 25, 2025 after three 16- and 17-year-old boys who attended Hillsdale High School egged Miceli’s house, just two days after they poured oil on his porch, prosecutors said.

As the boys drove their vehicle away from Miceli’s house on the 1000 block of Annapolis Drive after midnight, Miceli went outside with a handgun and fired two shots at the fleeing car, prosecutors said. One bullet lodged in a passenger side panel of the car, but neither round struck any of the teens.

Miceli told police that his daughter had experienced bullying at school, and that he had been angered by having to clean the oil off his porch, prosecutors added. He also admitted to firing shots at the car, then dropping his gun in Water Dog Lake.

When investigators searched Miceli’s house, they located an illegal automatic rifle and ammunition, prosecutors added.

Miceli was originally charged with three felony counts of assault with a firearm, one felony count of firing at an inhabited vehicle and two felony counts related to an illegal assault rifle that investigators found at his home.

The three teen boys did not face any charges for the vandalism, but were rather referred to the San Mateo Police Department’s teen diversion program.

“It’s one of those really scary things that fortunately did not result in any actual injury other than psychological injury,” Wagstaffe said. “We’re just grateful that nobody was hit by one of the bullets.”