Two Chula Vista men have both pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in a gang related shooting death in 2012.
Reyes Michael Cruz, 26, and Adrian Ernesto Lopez, 21, will be sentenced Sept. 22 and Sept. 21 respectively in Chula Vista Superior Court for their roles in the Jan. 28, 2012, shooting of Hector Arce, 36, of Imperial Beach.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Reizen said Cruz faces a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison while Lopez could get a maximum 11-year term. Shelly Villalobos, 27, of Imperial Beach, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and she received two years in prison earlier.
The trio was arrested Sept. 3, 2014 by sheriff’s deputies following a long investigation. The last person arrested was Salvador Cuellar, 28, on Oct. 22, 2014, and he remains charged with murder. A murder charge was dropped against Cruz and Lopez.
An Oct. 5 preliminary hearing was set for Cuellar on July 22. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail. Cruz and Lopez also remain behind bars.
Reizen said earlier that the defendants did not know Arce whom they had mistaken for a rival gang member. He was shot in the 1300 block of Imperial Beach Boulevard in Imperial Beach.
The East County Gang Task Force assisted the sheriff’s department and crime laboratory in putting the case together.
