JULY 31--The Minnesota woman who made the mistake of confessing to an auto theft in her personal journal--a volume that ended up in police possession--has been spared a prison term by a judge who placed her on probation for three years. At a District Court hearing Monday, Vanessa Guerra, 31, was sentenced in connection with her April guilty plea to receiving stolen property, a felony. While the count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, Guerra got off with a probationary term. “Witnesses at the auto salvage business...stated that Guerra had brought the van in and sold it to them,” according to a criminal complaint. While probing the auto theft, investigator Andrew Konechne visited the home of Guerra’s mother, with whom Guerra and her boyfriend had recently resided.