California Man Faces 2 Consecutive Life Sentences For The Murder Of His Wife And Another Woman

A man in California has pleaded guilty to killing his estranged wife and another woman in two separate shootings in February and April of 2018. Miguel Angel Prieto, 47, faces two consecutive life sentences for the deaths of Maria Perez and Rocio Sandoval.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon announced that Prieto has pled guilty to one count each of first-degree murder and second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder having been involved in three different shootings in 2018.

On April 11, 2018, Prieto went to the home of his estranged wife, Maria Perez, in Covina and shot her several times and fled the scene. A relative found Maria Perez in her apartment in the 1300 block of West San Bernardino Road in Covina and called the police. Responding authorities arrived at the scene where Perez was pronounced dead.

Covina police tracked down Prieto to a fast-food restaurant parking lot in Long Beach just several hours later and where they also recovered a revolver in his possession.

Prosecutors revealed this was not the first murder attempt Prieto had made on his wife. In February 2018, he shot at a man in Azusa whom he mistakenly thought was his wife’s boyfriend.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s Homicide Lt. Joe Mendoza believes Prieto went looking for his ex-wife’s boyfriend that night and spotted the man with a woman in a parked car in the 1500 block of West McKinley Avenue. Prieto walked up to the pair, spoke to them and later shot them.

“The man was sitting with a woman in a car when Prieto walked up to the pair, spoke to them and later shot them,” the DA’s office said in a statement.

The woman in the car, who was identified by authorities as 38-year-old Rocio Sandoval of Rancho Cucamonga. She died two days later at the hospital after suffering a gunshot wound to the head. The man was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and survived, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

In another incident, on April 7, Prieto was involved in another shooting at a restaurant in Long Beach owned by his estranged wife’s uncle. The District Attorney’s office said Prieto visited Perez's uncle's restaurant and shot at a woman. No other details about that shooting were released.

Prieto is scheduled to be sentenced in March.