Gilberto Sotelo.Photo:GoFundMe
GoFundMe
The former Texas sheriff’s correctional corporal, who fatally hit a father of 7 while drunk and on vacation in California, has been convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Officeannouncedthis week.
Giovanni Ceja crashed his vehicle into Gilberto Sotelo and his parked truck while the father wasfilling his tank with gason the shoulder of the freeway in the early morning hours of Aug. 7, then drunkenly drove off, prosecutors said in anearlier press release.
Sotelo, 38, was pronounced dead at the scene, per prosecutors.
Sotelo’s wife, Myra Basulto, who was with him at the time, called 911, according to the family’sGoFundMe post.
Giovanni Ceja.Riverside County DA’s Office
Riverside County DA’s Office
“He was willing to do anything and everything for anybody,” Basultotold NBC Los Angelesin the days after her husband’s death.
The case drew national attention, gaining momentum in the week between the fatal crash and law enforcement’s positive identification and arrest of the man in the blue car, Veronica Sotelo, who organized the GoFundMe, stated.
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When prosecutors called the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office regarding the arrest, Ceja wasreportedlyin uniform and on patrol.
source: people.com
