A 32-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison for killing a man who was run over by his own work van while trying to stop the vehicle from being stolen.
Omar Sanchez was convicted on Halloween of first-degree murder for the Sept. 22, 2020, death of 33-year-old Jose Berrelleza-Ibarra.
The victim had a 2014 Mercedes Sprinter work van in which he stored tools, according to prosecutors. He would often park it at his brother-in-law’s home 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 the van running outside to warm up in front of his parents’ 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.
The victim ran after the van and managed to catch up and open the door when the defendant swerved, causing Berrelleza-Ibarra to fall under the wheels, crushing him 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.