Trial begins in deadly Modesto home invasion

Two robbers were looking for cash and drugs when they forced their way into Jose Roberto Sepulveda’s west Modesto home in August 2015. They held his wife and her three children at gunpoint before Sepulveda was shot to death in his kitchen.

A prosecutor on Thursday afternoon told a jury that two men committed the home-invasion robbery that night, but only one of them had a gun. Deputy District Attorney Meghan Anderson said Sepulveda’s common-law wife, Maria Ceja, and her 12-year-old son identified Carlos Ivan Flores as the gunman in the robbery.

Amber Lunsford, Flores’ attorney, told the jurors there is a controversy surrounding Ceja’s identification of Flores as the gunman. She also said there’s no scientific evidence that links her client to the crime scene.

The defense attorney directed the jury’s attention to Sepulveda’s life as a cocaine dealer who stored drugs and lots of cash in his home. She said Sepulveda lived a double life and didn’t like answering questions from his family.

“Mr. Sepulveda lived a dangerous life,” Lunsford said. “He only came home to shower and sleep.”

Flores is charged with murder, two counts of home-invasion robbery and assault with a semi-automatic gun in Sepulveda’s death. His trial began Thursday afternoon in Stanislaus Superior Court with opening statements from the attorneys.

The robbery occurred about 9:40 p.m. Aug. 2, 2015, at the house in the 800 block of Pine Tree Lane, just south of Paradise Road. Ceja and her three children, the 12-year-old, a 5-year-old boy and a 1-year-old boy, had just returned home from shopping in Stockton.

Ceja went to one of the bedrooms to put down her youngest son while the two other boys were unloading grocery bags from their vehicle. The robbers accosted the 12-year-old as he entered the home. The prosecutor said the robbers asked the boy, “Where’s the money? Where’s the man?”

At that point, Sepulveda was in a storage room weighing cocaine, according to the defense attorney. Lunsford told the jury that Sepulveda would weigh the cocaine on a blue child’s table before packaging the drugs in small baggies.

Anderson said Ceja will testify that the two men confronted her in the home, and that Flores pointed the gun to her face.

The prosecutor told the jury that Sepulveda made a living selling drugs, and that Ceja was told to hold large amounts of cash. She had about $33,000 in cash in her purse at the time of the robbery. “This was a cash-only home,” Anderson told the jurors.

Lunsford said Ceja was reluctant to tell police investigators how much money she had in that purse, saying it was only about $10,000. The defense attorney also said Ceja claimed she had no idea her husband was involved in drugs or saw him with drugs in the home. Lunsford told the jury that Ceja’s older sons saw Sepulveda weighing and packaging cocaine in the storage room.

The family was forced into a room; Anderson said Ceja and her oldest son will testify that they heard a bang and found Sepulveda in the kitchen.

Sepulveda was shot several times after a struggle with the robbers. The 31-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Captured at border

About a month after the deadly robbery, Flores was arrested after trying to enter the country from Mexico. He was found at the Calexico port of entry in Southern California, where he claimed to have been in Mexico for a month, Anderson told the jurors.

The attorneys referred to the second robber as a man named Edgar Gonzalez, telling the jury he is not a part of this trial. There was no indication Gonzalez will testify in this trial or whether he was captured.

This story was originally published February 10, 2017 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Trial begins in deadly Modesto home invasion."