The jury condemns the man of Tijuana in the murder of the hostage of the adolescents of California who stole drugs

Almost five years after a San Diego teenager was kidnapped, tortured and Killed in Tijuana for stealing methamphetamine He had agreed to smuggled in the United States, a jury sentenced a man from Tijuana on Wednesday for multiple positions related to murder.

Federal prosecutors claimed that, although at least five people were involved in taking the 19 -year -old victim, it was Brian Alexis Patron López who shot and killed Miguel Anthony Rendon in May 2020. The prosecutors said the employer shot him five times in his head and left his body in a ravine.

After a six -day trial and approximately five hours of deliberations, the Federal Jury of San Diego condemned the intentional murder pattern while dedicated to drug trafficking, which caused death and conspiracy to take hostages that result in death.

“The murder was recorded on video,” American prosecutors Mario Peia and Sasha Foster wrote in a trial report this month. “(Patron) later showed the video and boasted from him to others.”

The prosecutors argued that, while others were involved, Patron took control over the kidnapping of Rendon and triggered him fatally “to increase his condition in the drug trafficking organization.”

The employer’s lawyer refused to comment on the verdict on Wednesday.

Four other defendants Previously declared guilty Participate in several degrees in kidnapping and kill. The four are waiting for the sentence.

Alan Lomeli-Luna declared himself guilty of a position of intentional murder while dedicated to drug trafficking, admitting in his guilt agreement that “(he) and his conspirators intentionally killed the victim shooting several times in the head.” Lomeli-Luna said he did not shoot the gun, but acknowledged in his plea that prosecutors “could prove that (he) advised, commanded, induced, acquired or caused the death of the victim.”

Prosecutors said Lomeli-Luna acted as an observation during the murder.

Wyatt Valencia-Pacheco, Jonathan Emmanuel Montelllano-Mora and Luis Armando Dorantes Rivera Jr. declared themselves guilty of a hostage take charge. Dorantes also declared himself guilty of a kidnapping conspiracy charge.

According to prosecutors, Rendon, the victim, was arrested on May 27 while trying to smuggle less than half a pound of methamphetamine in the United States through a pedestrian cross lane from Tijuana to San Diego. He was quickly released from custody and received a notice to appear before the court on a future date.

The next day, Rendon reached an agreement with Lomeli-Luna to smuggled more than 2 pounds of methamphetamine across the border, according to prosecutors. But shortly after collecting drugs, he supposedly stole them. The prosecutors claimed that they later used a managed version of the Court notice that he had received on May 27 to try to make it really caught on May 28 and that the US authorities had seized the largest amount of drugs.

The defendants never believed the trick and in a matter of hours sent threatening messages to Rendon, according to prosecutors. Despite the threats, Rendon made plans the next day to sell the drugs stolen from an associate in Tijuana. Afternoon that night, patron and the other defendants knew that Rendon was staying in the motel the hostel a little south of the center of Tijuana.

Motel surveillance images showed Patron and others dragging Rendon from a garage under his room, hitting him and then forcing him to a BMW, according to prosecutors. From there, the defendants allegedly transferred Rendon to an empty field where they continued to hit it, a nearby house and then the Luxor motel.

Both in the house and in the second motel, the defendants contacted the mother and stepfather of Rendon demanding money or drugs in exchange for their release, prosecutors said. The family was in the process of gathering money when the kidnappers cut the contact.

The prosecutors alleged that on the afternoon of May 30, a conspirator not accused in the case provided pattern a revolver and said “to do what (he) had to do.” That night, Patron and a second uncoated co-conspirator led Rendon to a nearby ravine, where Patron shot rendon five times in the head, while Lomeli-Luna acted as a surveillance at the top of the ravine, according to prosecutors.

In a search warrant that seeks access to electronic devices and pattern social media accounts, an FBI agent wrote that several witnesses attest to the murder video, although prosecutors said they had not yet been able to acquire the video earlier this month.

Prosecutors also pointed out that a teenager who was not involved with Rendon’s kidnapping, but learned about some of the details that sought to be one of the hostages to extort $ 1,000 of the stepfather of Rendon. But at that time, Rendon was already dead, according to prosecutors, who said the adolescent was prosecuted and convicted in the state youth court.

Earlier this year, the employer’s defense lawyer, Meghan Blanco, asked the United States District Judge, William Hayes, to eliminate both the Office of the Prosecutor of the United States of San Diego and the San Diego Field Office of the FBI of the Patron case, arguing that there was a conflict of interest because an FBI local agent had begun to go out with a San Diego police officer whose brothers participated in the case. One of the brothers was one of the coacked of the patterns that was cooperating as a government witness; Another had been interviewed as a witness and then deported.

The prosecution’s response was presented under Seal, but Hayes cited in his written decision on the matter. According to the judge, the FBI agent filed an affidavit that indicated that he had a minimal participation in the investigation. She said she started dating the San Diego police officer last November, and a month in her relationship, she revealed that her brothers were involved in the case. The next day, the FBI agent informed his superiors, and approximately a month later, prosecutors informed Blanco about the possible conflict, according to the judge.

Hayes denied Blanco’s motion based on the limited role of the FBI agent in the case.

The employer will be sentenced in July. He faces a minimum of prison life for two of the positions.

Originally published: March 20, 2025 at 4:49 am pdt