Cause found for trial in attempted murder of businessman
By John McPhaul
jpmcphaul@gmail.com
Mayagüez Superior Court Judge Héctor López found cause for trial against those allegedly responsible for conspiring to assassinate the main executive of dessert maker Flanes-es-Cedó, Andrés Llama Díaz, who was shot in front of his residence last Aug. 3.
Among the defendants are Bernardo Llama Díaz, brother of the businessman, Gustavo Alexis González González, Rodney A. Santiago Ramírez and José Manuel Rodríguez Torres.
“Yesterday the court found cause for trial for all the crimes filed by the Prosescutor’s Office against the four defendants, who face charges of attempted murder, conspiracy and violations of the Weapons Law,” prosecutor Esteban Miranda Valentín of the Mayagüez Prosecutor’s Office said Tuesday in a written statement.
The indictment hearing was scheduled for next Friday, March 18. The trial will begin on April 26.
“We trust in the excellent work that the Mayagüez Prosecutor’s Office is doing to prosecute this vile crime, in which an individual conspired with three others to kill his own brother,” Justice Secretary Domingo Emanuelli Hernández said. “They were wrong if they thought that they would not be tried.”
The chief prosecutor, Jessika Correa González, said “the case is on the right track, since the investigation was conducted with the required rigor.”
According to the investigation by the Mayagüez District Attorney’s Office, Bernardo Llama Díaz agreed to pay González González $10,000 to murder his brother. In turn, González González, a fugitive from justice with a criminal record for murder and other crimes, agreed with Santiago Ramírez and Rodríguez Torres to execute the businessman using two pistols, in exchange for the money.
According to the Justice Department, the four subjects allegedly dedicated themselves to stalking Andrés Llama Díaz. On Aug. 3, they waited for the executive to leave the Flanes-Es-Cedó manufacturing plant and followed him in a Kia Soul SUV to his home, where upon arriving at around 8:30 p.m. they shot him using a Glock .40 automatic pistol.
Subsequently, the co-defendants distributed money and weapons as payment for the murder. The businessman survived the attempt on his life, however, despite the fact that he received multiple bullet wounds.
Agents from the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Puerto Rico Police Bureau were in charge of the investigation along with the Mayagüez Prosecutor’s Office, led by prosecutor Blanca Portela Martínez.