SANTA ANA — Sentencing is set for Sept. 26 for a 26-year-old man with a previous felony conviction who pleaded guilty in connection with a deadly robbery of a 15-year-old in a Santa Ana park four years ago.
Juan Sotelo Gatica entered his plea Friday to a count of attempted robbery, five counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and a count of possession of a gun by a felon. He also admitted sentencing enhancements for gang activity.
Gatica was originally facing a murder charge with a special circumstance allegation of a robbery.
Co-defendant Daniel Contreras is a fugitive.
The victim — 15-year-old Rodrigo Aguilar — went to El Salvador Park at 1825 W. Civic Center Drive with five of his friends on March 25, 2020, to play basketball, prosecutors said in court papers.
At one point the group got on top of a snack bar and shared a marijuana cigarette, prosecutors said. Gatica and Contreras were walking by and Gatica felt the teens were being “disrespectful” to his gang, prosecutors said.
As the teens were leaving the park and going to their car, they were confronted by the defendants, prosecutors alleged.
As the victims were told to empty their pockets, one of the teens punched Gatica in the face, prosecutors said. The teen punched him a couple times more, knocking Gatica out, prosecutors said.
The other teens got into a fight with Contreras and then started running away, prosecutors said. Shots rang out, and Aguilar was shot in the back and killed, prosecutors said.
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