A second day of testimony is expected Thursday in a Santa Ana federal courtroom in the first trial in a sprawling racketeering crackdown on the Orange County chapter of the Mexican Mafia with three defendants charged with the murder of an alleged drug dealer accused of ripping off the gang.
Kevin Trejo, James Mendez, and Mike Escobar were indicted on charges of violent crime in aid of racketeering, murder, knowingly possessing and using a gun for murder in aid of racketeering. Reputed Orange County Mexican Mafia boss Johnny Martinez is also charged in the case but will go on trial separately.
The defendants are accused of killing 28-year-old Richard Villeda early on Aug. 21, 2017, in the 800 block of East Culver Avenue.
Mary Hansen testified Wednesday that she “coincidentally” happened to be awake about midnight staring out the window of her bedroom when she heard what she thought were fireworks in her quiet neighborhood in Orange near the historic downtown circle.
“It was a weird coincidence,” she said. “I wasn’t in bed. I was standing, looking toward the street… I heard what I thought was fireworks… Then I saw a black SUV driving by my house.”
She noticed the license plate had lights all around it that made it stand out in the night, she testified.
She testified she heard one loud bang followed by a cluster of loud noise before she saw the SUV driving away. When she went to her front door she heard “some moaning, very slight moaning” and saw a “dark figure” near a tree that she later learned was Villeda, she said.
Two neighbors from across the street were dashing over hollering “call 911,” which Hansen was already doing, she testified.
Two officers arrived on the scene in minutes to perform CPR on the victim until paramedics arrived and rushed him to a hospital.
Officer David Schweitzer of the Orange Police Department’s crime scene investigation unit testified that he recovered numerous shell casings from a .357-caliber weapon and from another 9 mm weapon along with a cellphone. Villeda had $4 in his pocket along with a lottery scratcher he bought earlier that night at a liquor store in Whittier.
Federal prosecutors said in court papers that Villeda was a member of a Costa Mesa-based gang who dealt drugs and collected “taxes” from gangs in the county for Martinez.
Villeda worked with his girlfriend, Danielle Canales, but during one of his transactions he stole drugs or money intended for his boss, prosecutors alleged. Villeda had done it before supposedly, but Martinez let it slide, prosecutors said.
“After the second time, Martinez got on a phone call from his prison cell with other associates and ordered that Villeda be killed,” prosecutors said in a trial brief.
The three defendants in the trial belong to different gangs, but they all fall under the umbrella of the Mexican Mafia, prosecutors said.
Orange Police Department Detective Matthew Moss testified Wednesday about a series of text messages Escobar allegedly sent to Canales’ phone setting up a meeting on the evening Villeda was shot to death.
In one text message, Escobar allegedly told Canales, “Hey D, let P know to get at me,” referring to Villeda’s alias of “Pedro,” Moss testified.
The two agreed to pick up Villeda in an alley running parallel to the row of apartment buildings where the victim and his girlfriend lived in Anaheim, Moss testified. Surveillance video shows the SUV picking up Villeda minutes before midnight Aug. 20.
Prosecutors will show jurors data from cellphones to track the movements of the defendants on the night of the killing from Anaheim to Orange. Prosecutors say Trejo’s and Mendez’s phones were turned off when they got near Escobar’s home.
While on the way to Orange, Villeda texted his girlfriend that “Buck” was in the SUV, referring to the defendant’s nickname, prosecutors said. Other messages referred to “Risky,” which is Escobar’s nickname, prosecutors said.
A doorbell camera indicates about nine gunshots rang out at the time of the killing, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors allege that Darline Mendoza, the girlfriend of Trejo’s brother, stole a Jeep Cherokee with help from Trejo’s girlfriend, Carina Aguilar, at a rental car agency at John Wayne Airport just before the killing.
Trejo allegedly drove the stolen vehicle to Tijuana where it was later found abandoned, prosecutors said. Prosecutors say Trejo took a .357 SIG gun from a friend’s home before the killing and returned hours later to ask his friend to change out the barrel before he went to Tijuana, prosecutors said.
Villeda was shot eight times, including once in the head, the autopsy showed.
Defense attorney John Aquilina, who represents Mendez, implored jurors to consider each case separately and to avoid lumping the defendants all together.
“All you will have are these text messages in a vacuum,” Aquilina said. “You will hear they had numerous reasons to lie — even to each other.”
Aquilina also said that co-defendant Omar Mejia, who was “very high up on the command of Johnny Martinez,” has cut a plea deal with prosecutors and will testify in the trial. Mejia, the defense attorney alleged, was Martinez’s enforcer.
Aquilina said Martinez was in a relationship with Mendez’s sister and wanted to marry her and the two had their ups and downs.
“There were times he got mad at (her) and said go break her windows,” Aquilina said.
“What does this represent? A very disorganized organization,” he said, adding it was like any family that had its internal squabbles.
Mejia, he said, would be an unreliable witness.
“In return, (Mejia) gets a benefit,” the defense attorney said. “But only if he tells the truth… And he’s going to come in to please counsel for the government so he can get his deal and get out of custody.”
So far, Mejia “hasn’t implicated James Mendez in anything,” Aquilina said.
John Cotsirilos, who represents Escobar, said his client worked in construction at the time of the killing. His mother was from Guatemala and his father from El Salvador, so Escobar was not allowed admittance to the Mexican Mafia, he said.
“Because of the birthplace of his parents he’s not eligible to be in the Mexican Mafia,” Cotsirilos said.
Defense attorney Oliver Cleary, who represents Trejo, also said his client had nothing to do with the killing or planning of it.
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