A 32-year-old man was convicted Thursday of killing of a man who was run over by his work van while trying to stop the vehicle from being stolen.
Omar Sanchez was convicted of first-degree murder and was scheduled to be sentenced. Dec. 13.
Sanchez was convicted of killing 33-year-old Jose Berrelleza-Ibarra Sept. 22, 2020.
The victim had a 2014 Mercedes Sprinter van for work that he stored tools in, according to prosecutors. He would often park it at his brother-in-law’s place at the end of Melinda Circle, a cul de sac, because he feared it would be stolen.
On the morning he was killed, he left it running outside to warm up in front of his parent’s house and while he was talking to his father and brother-in-law, the defendant and a co-defendant, Yesenia Escareno, drove up and the defendant jumped into the van’s driver’s seat and began driving away, prosecutors said.
As he ran after the van, he managed to catch up and open the door when the defendant swerved, and he fell under the wheels and was crushed to death, prosecutors said.
Escareno, 25, pleaded guilty Oct. 13, 2023, to carjacking and being an accessory after the fact and was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison. Another co-defendant Adriana Gomez, 34, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact Feb. 16, 2021, and was sentenced to two years in prison.