Three teens sentenced to prison for Craigslist murder
Three 19-year-olds were sentenced Friday to prison for the robbery and murder of a San Diego college student who answered a Craigslist ad for a computer.
Rashon Abernathy was sentenced to 50 years in prison and Seandell Jones and Shaquille Jordan to 25 years to life, all by Superior Court Judge Kerry Wells. Abernathy was also convicted of an earlier Craigslist robbery of a Navy sailor.
During the trial, prosecutors said that the three tricked Garrett Berki, 18, a student at San Diego Mesa College, into going to a location in the Paradise Hills neighborhood in May 2011 by using phony names in the listing. Instead of selling him a computer, the three robbed him at gunpoint of $600, prosecutors said.
The three sped off but Berki and his girlfriend chased them in their vehicle and cornered the three in a dead-end street. One shot was fired through the windshield of Berki’s car, according to forensic evidence.
The three were convicted of robbery and first-degree murder.
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tony.perry@latimes.com
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