Wife Accused in Husband’s Death Faces Fraud Trial

A Ventura woman accused of killing and dismembering her husband was ordered Thursday to stand trial on a single count of welfare fraud for allegedly stealing about $48,000 in government aid for her five children.

The ruling means Gladis Soto, 38, will now face back-to-back trials in Ventura County Superior Court.

Next month Soto is scheduled to stand trial on murder and related charges in the fatal shooting of her husband of 15 years, Pedro Alba. Soto confessed to police a few days after the slaying and told authorities Alba had raped her.

After the murder case is concluded, Soto is expected to be prosecuted in the welfare fraud case. Authorities say she scammed nearly $16,000 a year in welfare aid and food stamps during a three-year period.

Prosecutors Thursday presented evidence that Soto submitted four welfare applications between 1994 and 1997. In each application, records showed, Soto indicated she was not receiving money from her spouse.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kim Gibbons said that was a lie.

Rental and payroll documents submitted to the court showed Alba was living with his family in Oxnard, and with the exception of a four-month span was working full time as a welder in Camarillo and Santa Barbara.

“In all these reports, the question was asked: ‘Did anyone receive any money from a job or any other source?’ ” Gibbons told the judge. “And in each of these documents [the defendant] responded, ‘No.’ ”

But defense attorney Kay Duffy tried to show there was no clear-cut evidence as to Alba’s whereabouts between 1994 and 1997.

On cross-examination, welfare fraud investigator Daniel McGrath said the defendant’s neighbor had told him she rarely saw Alba at the couple’s apartment. And a landlord told authorities that on two occasions he had rented Alba a separate apartment in south Oxnard.

Also, a day-care provider told McGrath that Soto’s oldest children had told her their father did not live with them. When confronted directly, however, the children said their father did live at home.

The day-care provider also told McGrath that she sent cereal boxes home with the children, ages 6 to 12, because they often didn’t have enough to eat.

At the end of the hearing, Gibbons acknowledged the evidence could be disputed.

But by law, Superior Court Judge Vincent J. O’Neill Jr. only needed to find there was a “strong suspicion” that Soto received welfare aid by making false statements or representations.

Soto’s next court hearing is set for Oct. 1. She faces up to three years if convicted.

Meanwhile, the murder charge could send Soto to prison for 25 years to life.

On Wednesday, Duffy and defense attorney Jorge Alvarado asked a judge to reduce the murder charge to voluntary manslaughter on grounds their client was a battered woman who acted in self-defense.

Although they admit Soto shot Alba, Duffy and Alvarado contend she acted in the heat of passion after enduring years of sexual, psychological and physical abuse at the hands of a drug-abusing husband.

The motion was denied, however, and Soto remains jailed on $1-million bail.