WAILUKU — A man who burglarized 10 homes, stealing guns, jewelry and other valuables to get money for drugs, was sentenced Wednesday to a 10-year prison term.

Joey Teixeira, 26, of Haliimaile committed the burglaries in Makawao, Pukalani, Wailuku and Kahului during a seven-month period from April 22 to Nov. 21, 2016.

“I’m comparing you to the Big Island lava flow,” 2nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo said in sentencing Teixeira. “You’re just out of control.

“You victimized 10 different homes, 10 different victims, which really calls for a 10-year prison term.”

In nine criminal cases, Teixeira had pleaded no contest to 10 counts of first-degree burglary, two counts of first-degree theft, eight counts of second-degree theft, two counts of theft of a credit card and third-degree theft.

When he was questioned by police, Teixeira said he couldn’t remember details about some of the burglaries.

“You broke into so many homes and you stole so many valuables that all the crimes kind of melded together,” Judge Loo said. “That’s how high you were on drugs. That’s how wasted you were.”

She noted that Teixeira told police he broke into homes while he was coming down from drug highs because he didn’t want to go through withdrawals.

His attorney, Chris Dunn, said Teixeira “at one point had a promising future” and was an honors student in high school with no juvenile criminal record.

“As he hits adulthood, he has this inexplicable, precipitous fall,” Dunn said. “He throws away the next decade of his life.

“At the time this happened, he had no focus in his life except for getting and staying high. It was impossible to focus on the damage he was creating to our community. His focus was only to acquire funds to acquire drugs.”

While spending the past three years in jail, Teixeira has had time to reflect on what he did, Dunn said.

“He is extremely remorseful for the damage he’s done to the victims,” Dunn said.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to become better,” Teixeira said in court.

Teixeira was ordered to pay restitution totaling $43,840.

He is serving prison terms for all the counts at the same time. The prison terms are 10 years for burglary and first-degree theft charges and five years for charges of second-degree theft and theft of a credit card.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.