Man charged with 2019 vehicular homicide of Anthony teen pleads guilty to multiple charges

LAS CRUCES - On April 3, 2019, Gadsden High School student Beto Romero was leaving his house for school when he was struck by a vehicle outside of his home. He died after being transported by first responders to University Medical Center in El Paso.

The teen's death shook the tight-knit community of Anthony, and on Thursday, in Third Judicial District Court, the man who police say was driving the vehicle that struck him, pleaded guilty to multiple counts in connection with the case.

Oscar Ivan Anchondo, 23, will be sentenced later this month on charges of homicide by vehicle, a third-degree felony with a reckless driving enhancement, leaving the scene of an accident causing death, a fourth-degree felony, tampering with evidence, a fourth-degree felony, driving without a driver's license and driving without insurance, both misdemeanors.

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At sentencing, Anchondo faces six years in prison for the homicide charge, but the DA's office will be arguing for an enhancement to nine years. For leaving the scene of the crash, he faces 18 months; he'll face 18 months for tampering with evidence and for the misdemeanors Anchondo will face up to 90 days each.

Once sentenced, all charges are to be served consecutively, with credit for time served.

In 2018, Anchondo was charged with vehicular homicide, but those charges were dropped.

The crash

Early in the morning on April 3, 2019, Romero was getting into his mom's car on his way to school, near Aero Lane and Pico Lane.

At the same time, an SUV driven by Anchondo, attempted to run a second vehicle off the road on Stern Drive. The driver of the second vehicle told detectives he tried to get closer to the other vehicle, because he thought the driver was drunk, but he couldn't catch up with him.

As the man was following Anchondo, he was calling 911 to report an erratic driver and saw Anchondo turn off into a residential neighborhood.

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While on the phone with dispatch, the witness told police that he saw Romero getting into a silver vehicle and saw him get struck by Anchondo. After striking Romero, Anchondo continued west on Aero Lane, dragging him. Anchondo then turned around, reversed, stopped and continued north on Pico Lane.

A woman flagged the man down and asked him to follow Anchondo's SUV, which he did. Anchondo then fled to his mother's house where he attempted to hide the vehicle.

During an interview with law enforcement, he told police that he was coming down from a methamphetamine high at the time of the crash.

In court

After his arrest, Anchondo was charged with homicide by vehicle, reckless driving, knowingly leaving the scene of an accident that caused great bodily harm or death, tampering with evidence, driving without a license and driving without insurance.

At his first pretrial detention hearing on April 9, Judge Douglas Driggers granted him a $5,000 bond. His mother was appointed as his third-party custodian, and a curfew was imposed from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. each day.

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The ruling outraged the community.

After a few judge reassignments, the case was ultimately assigned to Judge Marci Beyer. On May 10, during a heavily protested court hearing, Beyer ruled that Anchondo would remain behind bars until his trial.

The second ruling was 700 days ago.

A community in mourning

Following Romero's death, hundreds gathered at the Gadsden High School baseball field to mourn his loss with a double-header baseball game.

The first of the two games was in honor of Romero who was a star athlete. His father, Aldeberto Romero Sr., threw the first pitch, and players wore jerseys commemorating their fallen teammate.

A memorial service was held for Romero between the two games.

A GoFundMe was set up to assist his family with funeral services and medical expenses and raised a total of $18,762.

Romero not only played varsity baseball, he was also on the basketball team and maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout his high school career.

Bethany Freudenthal can be reached at bfreudenthal@lcsun-news.com, 575-541-5449 or @bethanyfreuden1 on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Man charged with 2019 vehicular homicide of Anthony teen pleads guilty to multiple charges

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