A man who killed two people in a Seal Beach alcohol-fueled crash after being deported following a guilty plea to a felony was arraigned Friday on a charge of being in the country illegally.
Oscar Eduardo Ortega Anguiano, 43, pleaded not guilty to a count of being an illegal immigrant in the U.S. after being deported, federal prosecutors said. Ortega Anguiano was ordered detained and is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 8.
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 this month.
“After being deported to Mexico twice, he returned to our country, where he killed two young people in a DUI accident and where he served only 3 1/2 years out of a 10-year sentence in California state prison,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said, misstating the total amount of time the defendant spent behind bars in the case.
“(Governor) Newsom let down the victims’ families by allowing this criminal to be released from prison after barely serving a third of his sentence,” Essayli said.
“The state of the criminal justice system in California is dire, the prisons are being emptied at lightning speed. Thankfully, the federal government is able to step in and help deliver justice for the victims and their families in this case.”
Defendants convicted of vehicular manslaughter earn a day off their sentence each day for good conduct.
“Ortega never should have been in our country, and he should never has been given an early release after killing Anya Varfolomeev and Nikolay Osokin,” U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar said in a statement.
“Today, a small amount of justice has been done. The grief will never go away, but we continue to pray for Anya and Nikolay’s families as well as all Americans harmed by illegal immigration.”
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer previously said he objected to the plea deal for Ortega Anguiano from Orange County Superior Court Judge Kazuharu Makino. According to the defendant’s plea form, he was eligible for up to 12 years and six months behind bars.
Ortega Anguiano 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.
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.