Home » Archive » Crime » Two Men Charged in Deadly Santa Ana Crash
Two Men Charged in Deadly Santa Ana Crash
by Contributing Editor August 3, 2020 August 3, 2020
Two alleged street racers were charged Monday — one with second-degree murder and DUI counts and the other with gross vehicular manslaughter — in a fiery crash that killed a veteran newspaper editor near his Santa Ana home.
Louie Robert Villa, 29, of Santa Ana, is charged with second-degree murder, driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury and driving with a blood-alcohol content exceeding the legal limit of .08% causing bodily injury, all felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of engaging in a speed contest and driving on a suspended or revoked license due to a prior DUI.
Villa has multiple DUI-related convictions for driving on a suspended or revoked license, and had been advised that if he was involved in a deadly DUI crash, he could be charged with murder instead of manslaughter, according to prosecutors. Villa pleaded guilty to DUI in 2012, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
According to the complaint, Villa had a blood-alcohol level of .24, three times the legal limit.
The second-degree murder count means Villa faces at least 15 years to life in prison if convicted.
The arraignment of Villa, who remains hospitalized at UC Irvine Medical Center, was rescheduled to Aug. 31 in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. His bail was set at $1 million.
Tolento's arraignment in the jail courtroom in Santa Ana on Monday was also rescheduled for Aug. 31.
Ricardo Navarro Tolento, 24, of Santa Ana, is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury, both felonies, and faces a sentencing enhancement of fleeing the scene of a vehicular manslaughter. He is additionally charged with a misdemeanor count of engaging in a speed contest.
They are accused in the death of 67-year-old Eugene Harbrecht, who had worked at The Orange County Register since 1984, most recently as the national and international news editor for the Southern California News Group that encompasses the Register and 10 other newspapers.
A Register story about Harbrecht described him as "a fixture in the Register newsroom" who "constantly was relied upon for his news judgment." He played a key role in determining what wire service stories appeared on the front pages of SCNG newspapers.
The collision occurred just before 11:45 a.m. Thursday at Bristol Street and Santa Clara Avenue, according to Santa Ana Police Department Cpl. Anthony Bertagna. The victim was on his way to lunch when the collision occurred, prosecutors said.
Navarro, who was driving an Infiniti, was allegedly racing with Villa, who was driving a BMW. They were traveling north on Bristol Street approaching Santa Clara Avenue when the BMW struck Harbrecht's Ford pickup truck as he was turning left onto Santa Clara Avenue, Bertagna said.
The pickup truck skidded 60 to 70 feet and caught fire, Bertagna said. Two area residents dashed over to help pull the victim out of the burning vehicle, Bertagna said.
Navarro fled the scene, but a witness got the license plate number and police tracked him down hours later, police said.
The BMW was totaled and Villa was taken to a hospital, where he was placed under arrest, Bertagna said.
Court records show Villa pleaded guilty in October 2018 to corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant and driving on a suspended or revoked license due to DUI, and disobeying a domestic relations court order, all misdemeanors.
In May 2015, Villa pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia and driving on a suspended or revoked license due to DUI.
Tagged: charged, Crash, deadly, Santa