A 26-year-old man was sentenced Thursday, Sept. 27 to 21 years in prison for his role in a deadly robbery of a 15-year-old in a Santa Ana park four years ago.
Juan Sotelo Gatica pleaded guilty Aug. 9 to a count of attempted robbery, five counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and a count of possession of a gun by a felon. He also admitted sentencing enhancements for gang activity.
As part of his plea deal, a count of murder was dismissed along with a special-circumstances allegation of a robbery and sentencing enhancements for gang activity.
Co-defendant Daniel Contreras is a fugitive.
The victim — 15-year-old Rodrigo Aguilar — went to El Salvador Park at 1825 W. Civic Center Drive with five of his friends March 25, 2020, to play basketball, prosecutors said in court papers.
At one point, the group got on top of a snack bar and shared a marijuana cigarette, prosecutors said. Gatica and Contreras were walking by and Gatica felt the teens were being “disrespectful” to his gang.
As the teens were leaving the park and going to their car, they were confronted by the defendants, prosecutors alleged.
As the victims were told to empty their pockets, one of the teens punched Gatica in the face, prosecutors said. The teen punched him a couple of times more, knocking Gatica out.
The other teens got into a fight with Contreras and then started running away, prosecutors said. Shots rang out, and Aguilar was shot in the back and killed.
