Mother, son sentenced in 2008 O.C. murder and robbery

An Orange County mother and her 26-year-old son were sentenced Friday after they were convicted of luring a man to a motel from a nightclub, where they robbed and killed him in 2008, prosecutors said.

Leticia Carrasco, 52, was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison and her son, Noel Carrasco, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney’s office.

A jury found Noel Carrasco guilty last month of one felony count of special circumstances murder in the commission of a robbery and one felony count of second-degree robbery. His mother was found guilty by a jury in January of one felony count of murder and one felony count of second-degree robbery, prosecutors said.

The Carrascos lived in Buena Park.

On Dec. 22, 2008, prosecutors said, Leticia Carrasco met Matias Ojeda Vazquez at a Stanton bar and lured him to her motel room, leading him to believe they would have sex. But Noel Carrasco was waiting in the room and demanded money from Vazquez as soon as he and his mother entered the room.

Prosecutors said Vazquez refused, and the mother and son beat him: He sustained five stab wounds, asphyxiation and blunt-force trauma to the head. He died as a result of the beating. The pair wrapped Vazquez’s body in bedding, pulled a trash bag over his head and a dog food bag over his feet, then stuffed him in the trunk of his car and drove to Las Vegas.

Prosecutors said the pair dumped Vazquez’s body off Interstate 15 in the desert.

Weeks later, the pair were arrested in Las Vegas, and on Jan. 15, 2009, San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators found Vazquez’s remains by helicopter.

ALSO:

Activist files more complaints against Mike Feuer campaign

Gov. Jerry Brown pitches education budget at East L.A. school

Man fatally shot by officers in Alhambra police station had knife

Twitter: @rar

rick.rojas@latimes.com