Charges in death of Calexico man dropped

BRAWLEY — The county District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday dismissed first-degree murder charges against three defendants held in connection to the Oct. 1 stabbing death of a 27-yearold Calexico man.

The dismissal of the charges took place during a brief pretrial hearing at the county Superior Court courthouse in Brawley and allowed for the defendants to be released from custody.

The three defendants, all residents of Calexico, were each facing a first-degree murder charge in connection to the death of Antonio Javier Roldan, also of Calexico.

In response to an email inquiry seeking comment about the agency’s decision to dismiss the charges, county Deputy DA Miriam Shoval limited her response to state that the DA’s Office cannot comment on an ongoing investigation.

“(Imperial County Sheriff’s Office) investigators and our office are doing everything we can to bring Mr. Roldan’s killers to justice,” Shoval also stated.

Roldan’s body was discovered on Oct. 1 in a drain near Ross Avenue and Bowker Road between Holtville and El Centro, authorities previously announced.

In connection to his death, ICSO investigators had arrested Jonathan Gasca, 22, Juan Vasquez, 57, and Catherine Elizabeth Hickey, 26.

Gasca and Vasquez were reportedly booked into county jail on Oct. 17, while Hickey was booked into jail on Oct. 18. The three defendants had been held in custody on a $1 million bail.

A preliminary hearing in the case had been scheduled for Dec. 11, after counsel had asked for the hearing’s continuance on Nov. 27.

During the Nov. 27 hearing, defense attorney John Breeze indicated to the court that the case against his client, Vasquez, was weak and circumstantial in nature and that additional suspects may be identified.

On Tuesday, Breeze said that the prosecution was “not forthcoming” during court about the reason for the case’s dismissal.

“(Shoval) said that they developed new evidence apparently pointing in a new direction,” Breeze said via telephone following the dismissal of the charges.

Breeze also said that the deceased had a questionable past with a history of substance use, theft and gang membership.

“There were a lot of people who had expressed that they didn’t like him and wouldn’t be sorry if he wasn’t around anymore,” Breeze said.

While incarcerated in county jail in July, Roldan was allegedly among a group of six inmates who assaulted and injured two other inmates, according to information previously provided by ICSO correctional staff.

The incident resulted in Roldan and five other inmates being re-arrested for suspicion of battery with serious bodily injury, engaging in gang activity and disturbing the peace, ICSO arrest records stated.

Roldan had initially been arrested June 20 by El Centro police for allegedly making criminal threats and violating a restraining order, El Centro police call logs stated.

Prior to that, he was cited and released on May 18 by El Centro police for possession of narcotics paraphernalia, the El Centro police call logs stated.

The investigation into Roldan’s murder also appears on the ICSO webpage of the newly launched You and Blue online crime tipline.

Any member of the public with information about Roldan’s murder is encouraged to submit a tip about the case via the agency’s webpage at youandblue.org