Liquor store clerk’s killer sentenced
No parole possibility for Brown until he does over seven decades
A man convicted of fatally shooting a Las Vegas liquor store clerk during robbery must spend more than 70 years behind bars before he is eligible for parole, a judge decided Friday.
While jurors spared the life of Ray Charles Brown, 26, after finding him guilty of the April 2016 slaying of 24-year-old Matthew Christensen, District
Judge Michelle Leavitt sentenced him on several other charges, including first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping, burglary, assault and conspiracy in connection with the killing in the back room of a Lee’s Discount Liquor.
Christensen’s mother, Theresa Christensen, asked the judge to ensure that Brown spends his life behind bars.
York and Nevada. Some of them face charges of terrorism, murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking.
Siguenza-romero, 40, is one of 13 men charged in Nevada, and his trial is set for Sept. 14. He faces charges of dealing in firearms without a license, conspiracy to deal in firearms without a license and possession of an unregistered firearm.
He was not in the courtroom Friday; he attended via videoconference.
The crimes detailed in the 39page indictment span about a year, between July 2019 and July this year, though the government only began investigating Siguenza-romero in December, after he sold a semiautomatic handgun, a semiautomatic rifle and a revolver to undercover agents, Assistant U.S. Attorney Shaheen Torgoley said during Friday’s court hearing.
Two weeks later, one of the gang’s leaders, Adali Arnulfo Escalante-trujillo, a “shot caller” also known as “Buchaca,” told an undercover agent that Siguenza-romero “could get the purchaser whichever firearms the purchaser wished,” according to the indictment.
‘Photographic evidence’
In all, Torgoley said, Siguenza-romero sold nearly a dozen weapons — some stolen — and two silencers between December and April, and had boasted about being able to obtain more firearms, including a fully automatic AK-47. The transactions were captured in audio or video recordings, Torgoley said, and took place inside Siguenza-romero’s home, which he has owned since 2006.
Torgoley said “photographic evidence” links Siguenza-romero to MS-13 since at least the late 1990s. The evidence includes photos of Siguenza-romero holding up MS-13 “hand gestures.”
“He’s right in the middle of MS-13 behavior in Nevada and Los Angeles, and he’s an arms dealer for them,” Torgoley said.
But Leventhal argued, “If he was in MS-13 these last 20 years, he is the worst gangster I’ve ever seen.”
A search of Siguenza-romero’s house following his arrest turned up only one weapon, but, Torgoley said, investigators recovered at least 11 weapons and four silencers on Tuesday during a search of his brother’s home in Las Vegas.
Prosecutors believe Siguenza-romero’s brother, Victor, had either been storing or producing the weapons for him. His brother was not facing charges as of Friday.
Married with two kids, Siguenza-romero has no felony convictions on his record, owns a home, has a steady full-time job, and obtained U.S. citizenship in 2011 and a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Nevada this year — both of which require extensive background checks, fingerprints and fees.
Leventhal said Siguenza-romero immigrated to California from El Salvador with his family when he was 11 and moved to Las Vegas in 1998.
Seated in the courtroom gallery on Friday was Richard Assalone, the general manager of Hugo’s Cellar, where the defendant has worked for two decades. Assalone promised that Siguenza-romero would have a job “if he got out tomorrow.”
“I’ve had a plethora of employees, but none that match the level of professionalism, respect, courteous, well-mannered and promptness,” Assalone wrote in a letter filed with court documents. “He arrives at work, never complains. Always willing to step up and above to assist co-workers.”
MS-13, which has been in the U.S. since at least the 1980s, is a transnational gang made up primarily of immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador.
Nearly half of the 13 men indicted last week in Las Vegas live in Los Angeles, said Nevada U.S. Attorney Nicholas Trutanich, but they often came via “a well-worn path” to Las Vegas, a way station in the international drug trade with hubs in Central America and Mexico.
Co-defendant detained
Later Friday, Koppe ordered another defendant, who is not a legal resident, detained.
Juan Luis-rico, or Juan Rico, also known as “Pelon,” is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and one count of distribution of a controlled substance. Prosecutors said he sold more than 50 grams of methamphetamine.
The judge found that Luis-rico was a flight risk and a danger to the community.