Aristeo Martinez of Phoenix is in the Orange County (Calif.) jail on $1 million bail after being charged in the fatal shooting of a man on May 21 during an altercation in an Anaheim parking garage.
Martinez, 21, was identified as the alleged shooter. He was arrested in the 2500 block of E. Bell Road in Phoenix on May 30 at the request of Anaheim Police Department.
A second man, Elian Tanori Aryavo, was found with blunt force trauma injuries in the same altercation. Aryavo, 21, died a short time later. He was also a Phoenix resident.
Court records show Martinez waived extradition to California and was transported from the Maricopa County jail to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on June 28. He has a hearing set for July 18 at the North Justice Center in Fullerton, California.
Meanwhile, a Mexican man in the U.S. illegally and wanted in California in connection with vehicular manslaughter charges is in federal custody in Arizona after being tracked to Maricopa County.
Jose Leonidas Zapien-Vellegas was arrested last month in Peoria for violating immigration laws by reentering the U.S. without authorization as required by his 2017 deportation. He is being held in pretrial detention by the U.S. Marshal Service after being deemed a flight risk by a federal magistrate.
The arrest of Zapien-Vellegas, 25, was spurred by the homicide investigation in California. But public records show he had been in police custody in Tempe less than a year ago related to an altercation at a local bar, only to be released despite his illegal status in the U.S.
Court record show Zapien-Vellegas was taken into custody by the Tempe Police Department on Aug. 7, 2022, on suspicion of disorderly conduct, assault, and trespass. The outcome of any prosecution is unclear due to the limited availability of public records as of press time.
But while Zapien-Vellegas he was still in Tempe PD custody, agents with U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operation (ICE-ERO) determined he was prohibited from entering the U.S. without first obtaining consent from the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
ICE-ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement.
Zapien-Vellegas, however, was released by Tempe PD before an immigration detainer could be issued to ensure he remained in custody to stand trial on violating federal law.
Fast forward to May, when court records show Anaheim PD identified Zapien-Vellegas from video footage as a suspect in a motor vehicle incident involving the deaths of two people.
Federal authorities in Arizona were notified of the California homicide investigation and of a warrant for Zapien-Vellegas’s arrest. He was tracked to an apartment complex in Phoenix, the same address at which he had registered “numerous vehicles” with the Arizona Department of Transportation, according to court documents.
Zapien-Vellegas’s presence in Phoenix was used by an ICE-ERO detention officer on May 23 to secure a federal arrest warrant based on probable cause that he was in violation of immigration laws back in August 2022 by being present in Tempe.
“Following his release from the Tempe Police Department, U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement has actively attempted to locate and apprehend Zapien-Vellegas,” the detention officer noted in the federal criminal complaint.
The warrant was executed the same day, with Zapien-Vellegas being taken into custody without incident by ICE-ERO officers and special agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
“This targeted arrest is part of ERO’s commitment to public safety by pursuing and arresting egregious violent criminal offenders,” said Director John E. Cantu of the ERO Phoenix Field Office.
It is unclear whether Zapien-Vellegas’s federal case will take a backseat to the arrest warrant issued out of Anaheim. However, court records show he was recently offered a plea deal in his immigration case under the U.S. Department of Justice fast-track early disposition program.
According to a June 29 court filing, the offer requires Zapien-Vellegas to waive specific rights and hearings in exchange for a sentence “substantially below the sentencing guidelines range.” He has a few weeks to accept or reject the offer.
There is no indication in the federal court documents of the Tempe and Anaheim incidents being related.
Zapien-Vellegas was convicted of burglary in Maricopa County Superior Court in 2016. He was sentenced to three months in the county jail after which the 2017 immigration removal order was issued.