PHOENIX, AZ (April 6, 2011) – Judge Sally Duncan Schneider has sentenced Jesus Lopez-Moreno (DOB 11/13/86) to a total of 134 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for committing a violent home invasion, robbery and rape, as well as an aggravated assault of two police officers. Under the terms of the sentence, Lopez-Moreno will not be eligible for parole until 2089.
“While no sentence can ever erase the trauma suffered by the victims of this heinous crime, at least they can now be confident that this brutal criminal will spend the rest of his life in prison with no opportunity to ever harm innocent people again,” said Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. “Citizens of Maricopa County can also be confident that my office will spare no effort to bring similar violent offenders to justice and make them pay for their crimes. Lopez-Moreno can now take his place among the other 94.2% of violent and repeat offenders in our prison population,” he added.
On April 18, 2009, Lopez-Moreno and two accomplices invaded an apartment on North 35th Avenue in Phoenix, ordering two male occupants onto the ground in the kitchen area and robbing them of their personal possessions at gunpoint. Three female occupants were ordered into a bedroom where they were robbed of jewelry and personal possessions and one was sexually molested. Lopez-Moreno dragged a fourth female occupant into another bedroom by her hair, and forced her to perform oral sex on him while holding a gun to her head. He then ordered the victim to place a condom on him and raped her.
Police then arrived at the scene and the assailants fled the apartment. Lopez-Moreno ran up a stairwell to an upper floor balcony walkway and pointed a handgun at two officers pursuing him. One of the officers fired four shots, hitting Lopez-Moreno in the leg and abdomen. On February 28th, 2011, a jury found Lopez-Moreno guilty on 17 counts that included kidnapping, armed robbery, sexual assault and aggravated assault.
Two co-defendants, Jesus Serrano-Montoya and Jonathan Escarrega-Castillo, both pled guilty and were sentenced to 15 and 17 years in prison respectively.
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