A man who pleaded no contest to murder and DUI charges was sentenced Thursday to 30 years to life in state prison for a crash in Pomona last year that killed three women returning from a baby shower and injured two other people, including a 12-year-old girl.
Victor Siharath, 37, of Pomona, pleaded no contest Sept. 3 to three counts of second-degree murder and one count of DUI causing injury in connection with the March 2, 2024, crash that killed Lorena Morales Peru, 58, of Montclair, and Alejandra Olaez and Yesenia Ochoa, both 33 and from Pomona, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Morales Peru’s husband and Olaez’s 12-year-old daughter, who were among the five people in the car that was struck, were injured, then-District Attorney George Gascón said last year.
The defendant was sentenced Thursday by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Roy Delgado, who heard a series of emotional statements from the victims’ relatives and friends.
“Justice demands accountability,” the judge said, noting that he acknowledged the grief suffered by the victims’ loved ones and said he hopes they “find moments of peace in the days ahead.”
In a statement read on her behalf in court, Ochoa’s mother, Maria Clementine Borda, said, “There doesn’t pass a day that I don’t miss her.”
She noted that she has her daughter’s picture “in every corner of the house” so she can see her, saying that the defendant’s actions left three families behind that are suffering.
Jose Olaez, whose wife and sister were killed in the crash, said in a statement read in court that the crash could have been avoided if Siharath had “just taken an Uber.”
“… Some day, he may have a second chance,” Olaez said of the possibility that Siharath may eventually be paroled from state prison.
Paulino Alvarez said the death of his sister-in-law — Moreno Peru — has “left us devastated,” adding that the defendant’s choice to drive under the influence was “not just reckless” but in “deliberate disregard” for the lives of others.
At a news conference last year announcing the charges, Gascón said Siharath ran a red light while traveling “well above the speed limit of 35 mph” and slammed into another vehicle carrying five people.
The Pomona resident had a prior DUI conviction in 2014 from San Bernardino County, and he was given a legal warning at the time that if he drove drunk again and caused a death that he could be charged with murder, according to Gascón.
The deadly crash occurred about 11 p.m. at White Avenue and Phillips Boulevard, according to the Pomona Police Department.
Ochoa’s cousin, Cindy Ramos, told reporters soon after the crash, “This is a terrible tragedy, you know, of innocent people that were doing a celebration of a new life, and we just want justice for our families that were left behind … the children that were left behind.”
She said then that the victims’ families wanted Siharath “to be prosecuted to the fullest extent,” adding that she felt that Siharath “doesn’t deserve any type of sympathy from anybody.”
Relatives said Ochoa was in the process of adopting her 11-year-old nephew when she was killed.
Siharath was arrested by Pomona police the night of the crash, and has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.