A California woman who earned $ 4.9 million from a lawsuit she filed against the city of Fresno over a police officer who shot her 16-year-old son in the neck has been charged with using that money to buy guns from another of his children resold to gangs.
Christina López, 42,
is one of 14 people who were arrested in connection with the murder of a man
in Fresno County, California, last July, the Sheriff of that town, Margaret Mims, reported this week. .
["They think they own their life because they have paid for it": they arrest a Mexican girl who fled a forced marriage]
Detectives determined that a 47-year-old man sentenced to life in Salinas Valley State Prison for a homicide was the one who ordered the reckoning.
The perpetrator of the murder was arrested Thursday of last week after a confrontation with the Sheriff's SWAT special tactics team.
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims, California, at a press conference on October 9, 2021, Fresno County Sheriff's Office
According to prosecutors, López
used part of the money he received as compensation to buy weapons for his 14-year-old son,
who resold them to members of the gang to which he belongs.
According to public records consulted by The Washington Post
,
much of the money went to the purchase of a five-bedroom house on a five-acre lot in a suburb of the Central Valley city.
"As a mother, as a prosecutor and as a citizen who has lived in this country her entire life, this is one of the most aberrant behaviors I have ever seen from a human being," said Fresno County District Attorney Lisa A. Smittcamp.
[Gabby Petito was strangled to death, according to the coroner's report. Her boyfriend is still on the run]
López faces
22 charges, including endangering a minor and conspiracy to provide firearms to a minor
for the benefit of a street gang.
So now he could face a sentence of up to 10 years in state prison.
The prosecution also filed charges against his son.
"This family has been involved in this type of behavior and has continued to be after the death of a son and when there is another son in prison, she continued to promote this type of behavior," added the prosecutor.
A young man is shot in the face by a policeman by mistake during a chase
Oct. 12, 202102: 13
Lopez and her husband obtained $ 4.9 million in April after reaching a settlement with the county for the death of their son Isiah Murrietta-Golding, who was fatally shot by a Fresno police sergeant.
The teenager, who was wanted for questioning in connection with a homicide, tried to flee from the agent when he shot him and hit him in the neck.
He was not armed.
A brother from Murrieta-Golding, Israel, shortly after pleaded guilty to manslaughter under extenuating circumstances and was convicted as a juvenile delinquent.
The López family's lawyer, Michael Haddad, told The Associated Press news agency that he did not believe the prosecution's allegations, although he clarified that he has not been in contact with the accused since Israel's conviction.
[Bronx residents foil kidnapping of girl]
"Having known her for years, I can say that she is a good mother and that she would never do something like what they are saying she did. Actually, it seems to me that the charges are retaliation because she beat the Fresno Police Department in a great civil rights case for killing his son. "
It seems to me that the charges are retaliation because he beat the Fresno Police Department in a large civil rights case for killing his son.
Michael haddad attorney for the lopez family
The Fresno Prosecutor's Office has not provided more information about the evidence that shows López's involvement in the sale of weapons for the gang to which his son allegedly belongs.
It's also unclear whether the prosecutor's office has seized the money awarded to Lopez, although Smittcamp said they were looking into that possibility.
The woman is currently being held on $ 1.67 million bond, according to Julia Sherwin, another of the attorneys who represented the López family in the civil lawsuit against the Fresno Police Department.
"Six of Cristina's living children are under 10 years old, including one 4, 2 and 10 months old. She should be released so that she can return to take care of them," the lawyer told The Washington Post.
