SANTA ANA, Calif.—A 52-year-old man was sentenced Aug. 17 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his part in chasing down and fatally shooting a marijuana dispensary worker with a cash-filled backpack in Santa Ana.
Antonio Lamont Triplett was convicted June 9 of murder, with a special-circumstance allegation of killing during a robbery, and felony second-degree robbery. Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard King tacked on an additional five years to the punishment but stayed the order.
Co-defendants John Ben Taylor and Ryan Jones, both 38, are awaiting trial.
They are accused of killing 29-year-old Osvaldo Garcia of Santa Ana on Sept. 16, 2019.
Garcia was driving home in his Honda Accord when he was run off the road by a gray Nissan at 17th and Bristol streets just before 1 a.m., Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Birney said. Garcia was on the phone with his girlfriend, Carmen Munoz, at the time.
Two men jumped out of the car that was in pursuit and opened fire on the Honda while Garcia was scrambling to climb out of the passenger-side window, Birney said. The two suspects ran to the other side of the car, opened fire again, and beat Garcia over the head with a gun until a laser sighting broke off of the weapon.
Triplett popped the trunk of the Accord to steal the backpack full of cash, Birney said.
Multiple cars passed by the scene, including a Santa Ana police squad car, the driver of which appeared unaware of what had happened and did not stop despite the Honda being perched on a row of hedges in the eastern perimeter parking lot of Santa Ana College, according to surveillance video shown to jurors.
It was unclear whether one or two guns were used in the shooting, Birney said. But before the Santa Ana police car passed by, the suspects calmly went about their business of stealing from the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
“After killing Mr. Garcia, they spend minute after minute at that scene getting their money,” Birney said. “The brazen nature of it is really obscene.”
Munoz drove to the scene of the crime with her mother and told police that according to a smartphone app, she saw that her boyfriend’s phone was in Corona, Birney said, adding that police immediately started tracking the phone with help from a helicopter crew.
At about 3 a.m., police tracked the phone to an industrial complex in Carson, where suspects from three vehicles met and exchanged property, Birney said.
One of the suspects at that scene was a former employee of TRG marijuana dispensary in South Los Angeles, where Garcia worked, Birney said. Garcia’s job was to transport cash receipts from the business, the prosecutor added.
Police subsequently followed one of the vehicles to Long Beach and set up surveillance and later arrested Triplett and recovered Garcia’s cell phone, Birney said. Investigators found Garcia’s blood on Triplett’s shoe as well as a bandana with Triplett’s DNA on it at the crime scene.
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