Driver of Truck in Gang Killing Sentenced to 3 Years

A 20-year-old Sylmar man who drove the truck used in the gang kidnaping and murder of a young Pacoima man last November was sentenced Tuesday to three years in state prison for his part in the killing.

Robert Ontiveros, who had faced murder charges in the shooting death of 18-year-old Ruben Cruz, was allowed to plead guilty to reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter and conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon in return for his promise to testify against another defendant in the case, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Cesar Sarmiento.

Witnesses told police that Cruz, who was not affiliated with a gang, was abducted Nov. 1 from in front of an all-night market at the intersection of Osborne Street and Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Pacoima by several youths yelling gang slogans.

Searchers found Cruz’s partly decomposed body a month later in a canyon adjacent to the Golden State Freeway near Newhall.

Charges Pending

Murder charges are pending against Jesus Jose Robles, 20, of San Fernando, and three juveniles, one 15 years old and two 16 years old, Sarmiento said. Ontiveros has agreed to testify at the trial of Robles, for which a date is to be set on June 17.

Sarmiento said investigators are looking for another suspect, Ray Para of San Fernando, who allegedly fired the shots that killed Cruz.

Defense attorney Ralph Peretz asked Superior Court Judge John H. Major to impose a lighter sentence on Ontiveros because he had no record.

“When you live in a neighborhood that has that kind of gang control in it, it’s difficult not to associate with those kinds of people,” Peretz said. “The fact that he does not have a prior criminal record . . . indicates that, if he had his choice, he would not have been involved in this situation.”

But Major, noting that gang members “do not control the court system,” said he wanted to sentence Ontiveros to the term agreed on under the plea bargain.

“I suspect that people who join gangs start at a lower level and work their way up to such things as the senseless taking of an 18-year-old youth’s life, and I mean senseless,” Major said. “I think the agreement reached is an appropriate one based upon the totality of the circumstances in this case.”

Ontiveros will be eligible for parole in 18 months, Sarmiento said.