Prosecutors say the killings were tied to unpaid debts and an attempt to take over a lucrative drug-trafficking business.
An Arizona man was sentenced on Wednesday, July 24, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2015 murders of three men who were killed and burned in an SUV in an Orange neighborhood and a fourth man shot to death on a drive to Fontana — a series of slayings that prosecutors say was tied to unpaid debts and an attempt to take over a lucrative drug-trafficking business.
Raul Gastellum Flores was the first — and likely last — member of a crew to face trial for the sprawling murder plot that resulted in the deaths of Edgar Berrelleza-Soto, 26, and Joel Mauricio Berrelleza, 35, both of Orange, along with two other men.
An Orange County Superior Court jury earlier this year deliberated for less than a day before finding Flores, 33, guilty of four counts of first-degree murder.
Flores’ attorney, Cameron Talley, argued during the trial that his client had agreed to take part in an illicit business deal but denied that Flores knew there was going to be any bloodshed.
“He didn’t personally shoot anyone in this case,” Talley said on Wednesday. “He didn’t know anyone would be shot.”
While Flores was not accused of firing any weapons, the prosecution noted that he was the only person believed to be present at all four slayings.
“The defendant was aware of what was going to happen that day,” Deputy District Attorney Harris Siddiq said. “This was all motivated by greed. Greed for money. Greed for power.”
Flores, in a statement during his sentencing hearing in a Santa Ana courtroom, continued to deny responsibility for the deaths.
“I want to say to the victims’ (families), as well as to my family, that I am sorry I put you in this situation,” Flores said through a Spanish-language interpreter.
Both Flores and his attorney alleged that others were far more responsible for the violence. But Orange County Superior Court Judge Sheila Hanson told Flores that he was being held accountable for the crimes he was convicted of.
“Make no mistake, you are being sentenced today for your actions,” Judge Hanson said. “You were found guilty of some of the most horrific murders I have seen in this courtroom.”
According to testimony during the trial, the Berrelleza brothers ran a cross-border drug-smuggling operation that took in an estimated $2 million a year.
Rosario Roman-Lopez — a former partner of the Berrelleza brothers, authorities say — promised to pay Flores $2,000 to take part in a plot to kidnap and kill the brothers, prosecutors allege. Roman-Lopez was angry that the brothers had not paid him back money they owed him, prosecutors said, and wanted to take over the drug operation.
In a brazen attack in an Orange neighborhood, Berrelleza-Soto — along with 19-year-old Antonio Medina of Glendale, Arizona and 20-year-old Fernando Meza of Phoenix — were shot and their bodies set aflame while they sat in a black GMC Yukon.
That Nov. 9 day, a neighbor saw the SUV roll at perhaps 1 mph along East Oakmont Avenue.
Flores admitted to detectives that he doused the men’s bodies in gasoline and used a cigarette lighter to ignite the fire.
Hours later, Flores and other members of the same crew were accused of kidnapping Joel Berrelleza.
In a car on the way to Fontana, the crew taunted a bleeding and dying Berrelleza, a scene that was captured on cellphone video and shown during Flores’ trial. Berrelleza was shot three times at point-blank range.
Six days later, a passerby spotted the body in a car in Fontana. Investigators quickly connected the body to the three deaths in Orange.
Talley, Flores’ attorney, told jurors that Flores thought he was taking part in a discussion about divvying up control of the drug operation and argued that once the killings began, Flores was acting under duress.
But prosecutor Siddiq argued that even after setting the first three men on fire, Flores was “ready for more” and willingly took part in the killing of the fourth man. Flores and the other men knew that leaving the brothers alive wasn’t an option, the prosecutor added, because they would have come back for revenge.
Medina and Meza — the other two men killed in Orange — were close friends who grew up together, family members said. Meza was still alive when the SUV began burning but was unable to free himself.
“My brother had nothing to do with that business, it was not his life,” Pedro Meza told the judge. “He pleaded for his life.”
Family members of both men said they still struggle with the violent deaths.
“They didn’t deserve what happened to them,” Angelica Medina, Antonio Medina’s mother, wrote in a statement that the prosecutor read to the court.
Flores’ co-defendants appear unlikely to face trial.
Roman-Lopez — the Berrelleza brothers’ alleged former partner, who was accused of having ties to the Sinaloa Cartel — was reportedly killed in Mexico months after the Southern California murders.
Two other suspected members of the crew — Juan Fidencio Castro and Alexis Corral — are listed as fugitives in court records.
The last suspect — Angel De Jesus Barrera — admitted to first-degree robbery as part of a plea deal in which voluntary manslaughter charges were dismissed. In May, Barrera was sentenced to six years in prison. Due to time spent behind bars while awaiting trial, the judge determined that he had already served his sentence.
