2 accomplices sentenced in 2017 Oxnard murder and robbery spree, closing complicated case
Two accomplices in a 2017 murder and robbery spree in Oxnard were sentenced to decades in prison last week.
The case involved a series of robberies on the night of May 16, 2017, during which two victims were shot dead. Six robberies were carried out or attempted that night.
One victim, Aaron Austin, 29, an emergency medical technician, had been returning home from the gym when he was gunned down on North G Street, authorities said. The other victim, Eduardo Viveros Leon, 23, had been coming home from the laundromat when he was shot in the 5400 block of Perkins Road. Austin was shot four times and Leon three. Authorities say the victims were both fathers and had no violent histories or gang ties.
Three other victims were robbed at gunpoint.
The complicated set of crimes took months to unravel, with the Oxnard Police Department ultimately linking the crimes through a fingerprint left at the G Street crime scene. The three suspects were arrested in February 2018.
The gunman, David Napolean Diaz Flores, 25, was sentenced in April to two life sentences without the possibility of parole plus 60 years. A jury had found him guilty in March of the two murders and of three robberies.
The two other defendants, described by prosecutors as Flores' accomplices, had struck a plea deal that included testifying against him.
On July 10, the two were sentenced in Ventura County Superior Court.
Cerritos resident Joel Randy Montijo, 27, was sentenced to 35 years to life in state prison, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. Montijo pleaded guilty last year to one count of second-degree murder and four counts of second-degree robbery,
Joseph Martinez, 25, of Port Hueneme, was sentenced to 20 years, eight months in prison. Martinez pleaded guilty in 2020 to two counts of voluntary manslaughter and four counts of second-degree robbery. Martinez acted as the driver for Flores and Montijo during the spree, according to the DA's office.
“It has been a long, arduous road for the victims’ families to see justice for their loved ones,” said Senior Deputy DA John Barrick, who prosecuted the case, in a statement. “With today’s sentencing, we can finally end their trauma and hopefully begin their healing.”
As of Saturday, Montijo and Martinez both remained housed at Todd Road Jail outside Santa Paula pending transfer to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facility. Flores is currently housed at California State Prison, Solano in Vacaville, according to the corrections department website.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: 2 accomplices sentenced in Oxnard murder and robbery spree from 2017
