A Long Beach man was convicted of murder Thursday for his role in the robbery-killing of a marijuana dispensary worker who was transporting tens of thousands of dollars in cash in Santa Ana.
An Orange County Superior Court jury deliberated for more than a day before finding Antonio Lamont Triplett, 51, guilty of first-degree murder for his role in the Sept. 16, 2019 slaying of 29-year-old Osvaldo Garcia, who was run off a roadway, shot multiple times, pistol-whipped and beaten at the Santa Ana College campus.
Triplett — who allegedly carried out the fatal robbery with co-defendants John Taylor and Ryan Jones — was not accused of actually shooting Garcia or driving the vehicle that forced Garcia off the road. But he was accused of being at the scene of the shooting and serving as the “bag man” who ran off with Garcia’s backpack filled with cash, and Deputy District Attorney Mark Birney argued to jurors that guilt for Garcia’s death extended beyond the person who actually pulled the trigger.
“When Osvaldo is dying, he is looking for his bag of money,” the prosecutor said of Triplett during his closing arguments. “This isn’t ‘We are going to ask for the money and he is going to give it to us.’ They plan to take it.”
Triplett’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Lawrence Volk, countered during his own closing arguments to the jury that while Triplett was involved in the robbery, there was not enough evidence to prove he acted with reckless indifference to human life. As a result, the defense attorney argued, Triplett shouldn’t be held responsible for the killing.
“Clearly what happened that night was not the plan,” the defense attorney said.
Garcia worked for a marijuana dispensary in South Los Angeles, where he was responsible for transporting cash receipts from the business. On Sept. 15, 2019 he left the dispensary shortly after 11 p.m. with a backpack filled with cash, planning to meet his girlfriend at an In-N-Out in Santa Ana.
Santa Ana City College security footage showed another vehicle forcing Garcia’s car off the roadway near the Bristol and 17th streets intersection. Garcia’s car went over a sidewalk and onto a raised embankment and hedges. Garcia was on the phone with his girlfriend at the time and exclaimed, “They are shooting at me, help me!,” according to testimony during the trial.
Triplett and another man immediately got out of the other vehicle and ran up to Garcia’s car, with the other man firing multiple gunshots at Garcia, the security video showed. The men quickly walked to the passenger side of car, where Garcia was crawling out of the passenger window. Garcia was once again shot, then pistol-whipped and beaten. He was ultimately struck five times by the gunfire and died at the scene.
Security footage showed a marked Santa Ana police patrol car pass by on Bristol Street shortly after the shooting, but the officer driving the car apparently didn’t see Garcia’s body or his crashed vehicle. But, immediately after the patrol car drove by, a man the prosecutor identified as Triplett ran off with Garcia’s backpack, cutting through the campus and a nearby shopping center. The vehicle that ran Garcia off the road was shown leaving minutes later, shortly before other Santa Ana officers responding to reports of a traffic collision arrived at the campus.
Garcia’s girlfriend, who was listening to the robbery and shooting on an open phone line and was worried that he had been kidnapped, went to the campus and was taken by police to the nearby Santa Ana Police Station. Officers realized that Garcia’s girlfriend had not ended the call to her boyfriend’s phone, which had been stolen by one of the suspects.
Aided by a police helicopter, investigators tracked Garcia’s stolen cell phone first to Corona and then along several Los Angeles-area freeways to a parking lot in Carson, where the occupants of several vehicles were seen moving items from one car to another.
Two vehicles were stopped by police as they left the Carson lot, while a third car — which contained the stolen cell phone — was followed by police to Long Beach. Among those taken into custody that morning were Triplett, Taylor and Jones, along with a woman who worked at the same dispensary as Garcia.
Blood found on Triplett’s shoe after his arrest was tied to Garcia, and cell phone data collected by investigators showed Jones near the dispensary earlier in the night and Jones, Triplett and Taylor in Santa Ana at the time of the robbery and killing.
Jones was identified during the trial as the suspected driver of the vehicle that drove Garcia off the roadway, while Taylor was alleged to have been the person who beat and shot Garcia. Both men are still awaiting trial.
With the jury finding that the killing occurred during a robbery, Triplett faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on July 6.
Source: Orange County Register
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