Edgar Sanchez Ortega, 26, and Bryan Ortega, 21, both of Perris, were convicted in October of first-degree murder, robbery, attempted robbery and a special-circumstance allegation of killing in the course of a robbery. Bryan Ortega was additionally found guilty of sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations for the slaying of 25-year-old George Torres of Moreno Valley.

During a hearing Friday at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jason Armand imposed the sentences required by law on the pair.

According to a trial brief filed by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, the defendants went on a robbery spree that began shortly after 1 a.m. on Nov. 26, 2021, when they spotted a man walking through a field on Wells Street in Perris. Bryan Ortega got out of his brother’s four-door sedan and accosted the victim, shouting, “What’s up, homie?” the brief said.

The victim, identified in court documents only as “M.F.,” later told sheriff’s investigators that he was immediately frozen with fear when the man walked up to him, racked the slide on a 9mm handgun and “pushed the barrel against the side of his head,” court papers said.

“Bryan said, `Strip off all your clothes,”‘ the brief stated. “M.F. hesitated … and when he did that, Bryan struck him with the gun on the side of the head and said, `Get naked. I’m for real. I’ll kill you.’ M.F. therefore complied. Bryan pistol-whipped him again after he took his clothes off, and the victim went down to his knees.”

Ortega grabbed the man’s clothes and mobile phone, which doubled as a wallet, and jumped back into his brother’s car, then the pair sped away, prosecutors said. M.F. walked to a Circle K and sought help.

Only 20 minutes later, the defendants drove to an am/pm convenience store/gas station at 4040 Perris Blvd. and began inhaling drugs or vapors via balloons while sitting in Edgar Ortega’s vehicle, according to the prosecution. The men saw Torres pull into the parking lot in his Honda sedan and decided to rob him and his male friend, identified only as “J.N.”

After J.N. got out of the passenger side of the Honda and went into the store to buy cigarettes, Edgar Ortega backed his sedan into the parking stall immediately adjacent to the victim’s car.

When J.N. returned and sat down in the Honda, Bryan Ortega stepped out of his brother’s vehicle, pulled his 9mm handgun and told J.N. and Torres, who was at the wheel, “Give me everything you got,” according to the brief.

J.N. complied, handing over his cigarettes and cash, but Torres refused, prompting Ortega to demand that the victim hand over his sunglasses. The young man balked and instead grabbed a pistol that he’d hidden in the Honda and fired at Ortega, who “then began shooting into the car multiple times,” the brief said.

Torres was hit by several bullets and died at the scene. J.N. was not wounded. The defendants fled as witnesses called 911.

Central Homicide Unit detectives reviewed storefront security surveillance camera images that morning and quickly identified the brothers as the assailants, also linking them to the assault and robbery of M.F., culminating in the men’s arrests without incident at a Santa Ana hotel the same day.

Neither defendant had documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

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RIVERSIDE, CA — A man who accidentally killed a 21-year-old woman during gunplay at a Woodcrest property admitted voluntary manslaughter in a plea directly to a Riverside County Superior Court judge, without the involvement of prosecutors, the District Attorney’s Office confirmed Wednesday.

Brady Matthew Castillo, who turns 23 Thursday, of Riverside pleaded guilty to the felony count, along with a sentence-enhancing gun use allegation, during a status hearing Monday before Judge Gary Polk at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

Polk accepted the plea from Castillo without input or objection from the prosecution.

The judge scheduled a sentencing hearing for Nov. 22, without indicating the length of imprisonment under consideration. The defendant is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed by sheriff’s Investigator David Sandoval, Castillo was with Isabella Ruiz at an unnamed friend’s residence in the 18000 block of Gentian Avenue, near Chicago Avenue, on the night of March 31, 2023, when the shooting occurred.

Sandoval said earlier that day, the defendant had been “hanging out with his friend” when he grabbed a semiautomatic handgun stashed in a drawer at the house and “took selfies,” posing with the pistol before handing the gun to his friend and leaving.

“Later that evening (about 11:45 p.m.), Castillo returned to the same place and was hanging out with Ruiz and the previously noted friend,” according to the sheriff’s declaration. “Castillo noticed the same firearm from earlier on top of a table in the bedroom. He picked up the firearm with his left hand, racked the slide to the rear, pointed the firearm at Ruiz’s face, and three to five seconds later, pulled the trigger, striking her in the face.”

Sandoval wrote that Ruiz was sitting in a chair situated at a desktop computer, “looking at Castillo when he pulled the trigger, and neither party said anything to each other.”

“Castillo was unaware if the firearm was loaded and assumed it was not,” the investigator said.
Castillo’s friend called 911 immediately after the shooting, and the victim was taken to Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley, where she died about 90 minutes later.

The defendant later told detectives he had not had any “formal gun training” but realized “the dangerousness of firearms,” the affidavit stated.

He was arrested on the afternoon of April 1, 2023, but posted an $80,000 bond and was released from custody. His bail was revoked three months later when he failed to make a court appearance.

Castillo has no documented prior misdemeanor or felony convictions in Riverside County.

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Melvin Mario James Landry, 42, of San Jacinto allegedly killed Gilbert Wah in 2020.

A Banning jury deliberated two days in January before deadlocking, after which Riverside County Superior Court Judge Rene Navarro declared a mistrial.

The case was transferred a week ago from the Banning Justice Center to the Riverside Hall of Justice, where Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz began summoning panels of prospective jurors for screening as to their availability and qualifications.

The judge is expected to swear in a panel Monday afternoon, with opening statements possible Tuesday morning.

Landry, who is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail, is charged with murder and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.

According to a trial brief filed by the prosecution, on the night of July 23, 2020, Wah, his wife, Octavia Wah, and Landry got together at the victim’s house at 801 S. Camino Los Banos to “drink alcohol and smoke marijuana.”

The defense said in its brief Landry was in the midst of a divorce from his wife, Sylvia Joshua, because “he was caught cheating” on her. He was also suffering depression from the recent death of his mother and was upset that his sister had moved out of the area.

As he, the victim and Octavia Wah drank and smoked long into the night, tensions escalated due to Gilbert Wah’s references to Landry as a “pussy” and “bitch” — demeaning terms used to describe the defendant’s relationship with his wife, according to the prosecution’s brief.

Shortly after 3 a.m. on July 24, Wah became aggressive, slapping Landry across the face, the brief stated.

The defendant did not hit back, but instead went to his Dodge Durango pickup parked in front of the house, grabbed a semiautomatic handgun, then returned to the house and confronted Wah, firing a single shot into his heart, prosecutors allege.

The victim died on the spot.

His wife struck Landry and attempted to stop him from leaving, but he got away from her in his pickup. She called 911, and patrol deputies converged on the location.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Thurm said as personnel were gearing up to begin a search, Landry “returned to the scene and surrendered.”

Court records show the defendant has a prior misdemeanor conviction in Riverside County for driving under the influence. He has a felony conviction in another jurisdiction, but the offense wasn’t listed.

Court papers indicated Wah, too, had a record, including battery on a peace officer in another state, as well as a fraud conviction locally.

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