Recorder Staff Report
By Aaron Burgin, The Porterville Recorder
VISALIA — The last of four people implicated in a brutal 2004 kidnapping, torture and killing of a Porterville man will stand trial on murder charges next February.
Israel Inez Cruz, 30, appeared in court Wednesday morning before Tulare County Superior Court Judge Gary Paden, who confirmed Feb. 13, 2008, as the day jury selection is to begin in the trial — almost four years to the day after the victim’s mother reported him missing.
Cruz, along with three other people, allegedly killed Jose Jeovany Flores, 21, whose body was found wrapped in a rug in an orange grove in the McFarland area March 15, 2004. Porterville police said in July 2005 that Flores was at a party and asked an 18-year-old woman to continue the party at a local motel.
That girl, later identified as Tiffany Chavez, later told two friends — Juan Meza and Hector Cortez — that Flores sexually abused her. The two men then kidnapped Flores from the motel and took him to the Cruz’s house in the 300 block of East Oak Avenue, where they held him captive for several days, police said.
On Feb. 14, 2004, Flores’ mother reported him missing to police. Porterville police arrested Cruz July 5, 2005, after a tense, seven-hour standoff that ended with officers shooting Cruz in an apartment complex in the 1400 block of North Cottage Place in Porterville. Cruz, the final suspect arrested in the case, will likely be the only one to face murder charges.
Since 2005, the other three suspects — Cortez, Meza and Chavez — have all pleaded and have been sentenced to lesser charges. Meza pleaded guilty to a felony kidnapping charge Dec. 19, 2006 and was sentenced to eight years in state prison Feb. 8. Cortez was also sentenced Feb. 8 for second-degree manslaughter and robbery, which carry a combined seven-year sentence.
Paden handed down the most harsh sentence to date to Chavez, who pleaded guilty to first degree manslaughter and robbery, receiving the maximum sentence for manslaughter, 11 years, and an additional year for the robbery charge. Cruz said in court Wednesday he would be agreeable to a resolution similar the other three suspects, in order that he could get out of prison to help raise his children. “I could get back out there to raise my sons,” Cruz said. “I am a single father ... and I want to be there for them.”
Supervising District Attorney Tim Ward said he has no plans to offer a lesser charge to Cruz. “I anticipate that this will go to trial,” Ward said. “The first-degree murder charge will have a possibility of parole, but other than that, I don’t see an early resolution to this.”
In addition to murder, kidnapping and torture charges, Cruz also faces two new charges he picked up while in custody. He is charged with felony assault in connection with a March 15, 2006 jail fight, and with possession of alcohol in jail after jail deputies reportedly found the homemade alcoholic beverage “pruno” in his cell. Cruz told Paden he plans to represent himself in the possession case.
Contact Aaron Burgin at 784-5000, Ext. 1046, or aburgin@portervillerecorder.com.
