FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HOME INVASION ROBBER FOUND GUILTY AND JUDGE HAMMERS HIM

San Antonio, Texas: June 10, 2009:

This afternoon a Bexar County jury found Guadalupe Diaz, age 29, guilty of the offense of Aggravated Robbery. The trial was held in the 175th District Court before the honorable Judge Mary Roman. Diaz elected to be sentenced by the judge rather than the jury. After the jury’s verdict of guilt, Judge Roman sentenced Diaz to 45 years in prison.

At the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Diaz, along with three other actors, committed a home invasion robbery on April 27, 2008, occurring in the 1100 block of E. Mulberry. Four victims, two adults and two children, were held at gunpoint while their apartment was ransacked. The thieves stole a PlayStation, television, clothes, and shoes. The actors placed all of the stolen goods in their vehicle only to find it would not start. While attempting to start their vehicle, one of the adult victims grabbed a shotgun and came out of the house and opened fire on Diaz and his accomplices, who promptly fled the scene without their getaway vehicle or the stolen items.

Diaz was known by the victims who identified him to police. Another defendant, Pedro Lugo, age 29, was identified when his vehicle, which would not start, was left at the scene of the crime. He is currently awaiting trial. A third accomplice, Roger Martinez, age 25, was identified by his driver’s license and birth certificate, which were recovered from the abandoned getaway vehicle. He was tried earlier this year on a different robbery and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The fourth person has not been identified.

For more information, contact Cliff Herberg, First Assistant District Attorney, at 335-2342.