Death of Perris Man
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – A convicted felon and two others accused of killing a 27-year-old Perris man on Christmas Eve 2022 must stand trial on a string of felony charges, a judge ruled Friday.
Miguel Angel Villegas, 31, Andrik Avalos Villasenor, 22, and Kassandra Lepe, 22 — all of Hemet — were arrested following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation into the slaying of Rafael Morales in Perris.
At the end of a preliminary hearing Friday, Superior Court Judge Steven Counelis found there was sufficient evidence to bound Villegas and Villasenor over for trail on charges of murder and burglary, with sentence- enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations, while the judge ordered Villegas alone held to answer on two counts of assault and one count of attempted murder.
Lepe was bound over only on an accessory-after-the-fact charge.
The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for the trio on June 17 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Lepe is being held on $10,000 bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning; Villasenor and Villegas are each being held on $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Ed Baeza and court documents, about 11 p.m. on Dec. 24, 2022, the men were involved in an unspecified confrontation with Morales and others at a residence in the 300 block of West Seventh Street, near Perris Boulevard.
During the encounter, the victim was shot at least once in the upper body, Baeza said. Villegas also allegedly attempted to kill a man identified in documents only as “M.G.” at the location and assaulted three people, identified as Morales, “L.O.,” and “V.O.”
Witnesses called 911, and deputies and paramedics converged on the location within minutes, pronouncing Morales dead at the scene.
Baeza said Central Homicide Unit detectives quickly identified Villegas and Villasenor as two of the alleged assailants. Both were tracked to separate locations the following day and taken into custody without incident.
Lepe was identified later and arrested on East Florida Avenue in Hemet.
A possible motive was not disclosed.
Neither Lepe nor Villasenor has documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County. However, Villegas has priors for assault resulting in great bodily injury, auto theft, driving under the influence of drugs and statutory rape, according to court records.
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