Corona Man Found Guilty of Drug, Weapons Charges

A federal jury on Tuesday deadlocked on a murder charge against a Corona drug dealer, but convicted him on drug and weapons charges that could land him in prison for the remainder of his life.

Jurors told U. S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor they could not convict Juan Benito Castro of killing a 28-year-old San Bernardino County man and dumping his body in some bushes along Santa Ana Canyon Road in Anaheim Hills.

During the 13-week trial, prosecutors alleged that Castro, 29, killed 28-year-old Aaron Todd Ricks of San Bernardino because he had somehow cheated Castro in a drug deal.

Jurors, however, convicted Castro on four drug and three weapons charges. Castro, who had two previous drug convictions, faces a possible life sentence.

An underling in Castro’s drug ring, Thomas Lee Galloway, 30, of Hacienda Heights, was convicted of two drug and two weapons charges. He faces a mandatory minimum 25 years in prison.

But jurors deadlocked on convicting a third man, 26-year-old Kipp Edward Townsend of Moreno Valley, for his alleged role in the drug operation.

Assistant U. S. Atty. Uttam Dhillon, the prosecutor in the case, said he was pleased with the verdicts and “we believe that justice was done.”

Dhillon said prosecutors “believe in our [murder] case” and will make a final determination in September whether to refile the charges on which the jury deadlocked.

During the trial, federal agents testified that they launched a sting operation to smash Castro’s drug ring after intercepting a van loaded with 228 kilograms of cocaine in February 1993. Castro and three underlings were arrested after they bought 20 kilograms of cocaine from undercover DEA agents in July 1993.

The third man, Hilario Rios-Meza, 55, of Riverside, pleaded guilty to the drug charges earlier this year.