A 44-year-old man who killed two people in a Seal Beach alcohol-fueled crash after having been deported was sentenced to nearly four years in prison Friday for being in the country illegally.
Oscar Eduardo Ortega Anguiano pleaded guilty Oct. 24 to being in the country illegally after being deported. U.S. District Judge John Holcomb sentenced him to 46 months in prison.
Ortega Anguiano pleaded guilty to two felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated as well as a misdemeanor count of driving without a valid driver’s license in state court in 2022 and had 334 days credit behind bars when he was sentenced April 28, 2022, to 10 years in prison. He was released in that case in July.
Anatoly Varfolomeev, the father of Anya Varfolomeev, who died in the crash with her friend, Nikolay Osokin, pleaded with Holcomb to give Ortega Anguiano the maximum punishment. The sentencing guidelines called for 46 to 57 months in prison, but federal prosecutors and pretrial services recommended 46 months.
The fatal DUI crash occurred on Nov. 13, 2021, on the San Diego (405) Freeway’s Seal Beach Boulevard off-ramp when the victims’ vehicle caught fire following the crash just before midnight.
Varfolomeev recalled a visit from officers at 3 a.m. letting him know “the terrible news … the night the light went out of our lives.”
He said his family has been in “permanent grief” since the crash.
“I don’t have words to describe the pain and suffering we’ve been going through four years now,” he said.
The fact that Ortega Anguiano was in the country illegally “added an extra layer of pain,” Varfolomeev said, adding he emigrated to the country legally.
“We assimilated to the culture,” he said. “I came to this hearing with the hope for final justice … for real punishment.”
Varfolomeev added, “I hope (the defendant) will be forever incarcerated by the memories” of the victims.
“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Holcomb told the victims’ families.
Ortega Anguiano’s attorney, Bo Griffith of the federal public defender’s office, said Ortega Anguiano returned to the country to care for his children.
“He felt he had no choice but to return,” Griffith said.
Ortega Anguiano gave up his appellate rights and the possibility to contest his prior deportation, which assures he will be deported now and cannot return, Griffith said.
Ortega Anguiano told Holcomb, “I want to express my sincere apologies for… the pain I have caused the families. I understand in your eyes I’m a monster.”
But, he added, “I am a human who has made mistakes.”
To the victims’ families, he said, “I pray for your forgiveness every day. … I am very, very, very sorry. I sincerely hope that one day, you find it in your hearts to forgive me.”
He also apologized to his family and children.
The deadly crash is “etched in my conscience forever,” Ortega Anguiano said.
Ortega Anguiano said he was brought to the U.S. when he was 6.
“I was raised in the United States. … I am American at heart,” he said.
Ortega Anguiano also previously pleaded guilty to a felony count of false imprisonment effected by violence, menace, fraud or deceit and a misdemeanor count of battery on Feb. 28, 2014. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison, according to court records.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer supports a bill by state Sen. Bob Archuleta, D-Pico Rivera, — Kolya and Anya’s Law — which would lengthen sentences for gross vehicular manslaughter cases with multiple victims.