Friday, April 22, 2011

Alhambra, CA: Former teacher is sentenced for 2008 murder in Monterey Park

ALHAMBRA - A former Los Angeles Unified School District teacher was sentenced Thursday to 69 years to life in prison for fatally shooting his estranged wife.
Alhambra Superior Court Judge Jared Moses handed down the sentence to Aaron Leonel Raigoza, 37, who pleaded guilty last year to shooting 32-year-old Ana Maria Acosta to death in front of her parents' house in the 500 block of South Russel Avenue in Monterey Park.
Moses tacked on a 19-year prison term on top of a 50 years-to-life sentence for Raigoza, for pointing a gun at a man outside a nearby home after the Feb. 4, 2008, slaying.
Ana Marie Acosta worked at LAUSD's headquarters.
The couple had two children and were divorcing.
Raigoza fastened a global positioning system device under his wife's car and was tracking her movements via a cellular telephone just before the killing, according to Deputy District Attorney Steven Ipson.
Just eight minutes before she was shot, the 32-year-old woman was at the Monterey Park Police Department, reporting the dispute, Ipson said.
Raigoza fired more than 15 shots, he said.
An autopsy showed she was shot five times - three times in the head and once each in the chest and fingers, Ipson said.
Raigoza never returned to work at City of Angels School in Huntington Park and was arrested at the Desert Sky Motel & RV Park in San Bernardino County on Feb. 28, 2008, a little more than two weeks after being
charged with killing his wife. In addition to first-degree murder, Raigoza also pleaded guilty to the special allegation that he personally fired a gun in the killing, officials said.

No comments: