County Prosecutor Wins Murder Conviction in Healdsburg Marijuana Grow Shooting

The two men who were tried for killing a third in an illegal cultivation site west of Healdsburg were found guilty today on multiple charges, District Attorney Jill Ravitch announced.

Defendants Sidonio Cruz-Santos, 36, of Santa Rosa, and Agustin Zepeda-Onofre, 25, of Windsor, were found guilty by a jury of Second Degree Murder in the shooting death of 46-year-old Gabino Lopez-Santiago of Healdsburg.

The jury also found the men guilty of Unlawful Cultivation of Marijuana while Armed with a Firearm, and three separate counts of Assault with a Firearm. They also found Cruz-Santos guilty of intimidating Ramon Lopez-Velasco, who was the only reporting party to the murder, and who testified at trial for the People.

“This case underscores the dangers of illegal cultivation of marijuana," said Ravitch in a statement, "and this outcome sends a message that the violence that all too often accompanies these illegal, yet lucrative, activities will not go unpunished.

"Justice was served today by the jury’s verdict, rendered after nearly a month of testimony and several days of careful deliberation.”

Ramon Lopez-Velasco was the brother-in-law of the victim. In the days leading up to the killing, he was hired by Cruz-Santos to help trim and guard the marijuana at a marijuana garden operated by the defendants.

The defendants claimed the marijuana garden was “legal” based on a single medical marijuana recommendation they had posted there, but the jury rejected this defense. A narcotics detective testified that the marijuana found drying in the garden would produce approximately 72 to 90 pounds of marijuana, dozens of times more than what could be justified by the single recommendation that was posted there.

On October 15, 2011, the victim, Lopez-Santiago, went to the marijuana grow to drink with his brother-in-law, along with another friend. A verbal argument occurred between the victim and the friend, at which time the defendants, both armed, ordered the two men off the property at gunpoint.

While Lopez-Velasco retrieved a car in order to drive the two away from the property, Lopez-Santiago was shot to death.

Lopez-Velasco was then ordered at gunpoint to take the “garbage” (body) away and dispose of it. After leaving the body on the shoulder of a nearby road, Lopez-Velasco drove to Healdsburg Police Department to report the crime, and led the Sheriff’s Office to the remote piece of property on Chemise Road where the shooting occurred.

He later admitted that he had been the one to remove the body from the scene, and reported Cruz-Santos’ threats to kill him if he told anyone.

A sentencing date will be set on May 10, 2013, and each defendant faces more than 25 years-to-life in prison.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorneys Anne Masterson and Amy Ariyoshi, assisted by District Attorney Investigator Les Vanderpool. Detective Jesse Hanshew of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office headed the investigation.

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