Man gets split term as getaway driver in pawn shop owner’s death

A Hammond man was sentenced Tuesday to a six-year split sentence as a hit-and-run driver in the death of a Gary pawn shop owner.

Charles Garcia-Berrios, 33, pleaded guilty in November to criminal accessory and possession of cocaine in a separate case. He will serve four years in prison and two more on probation.

After that, he is expected to return to federal prison for violating his probation by being charged in the pawn shop case.

Lake Superior Judge Natalie Bokota pushed back sentencing Feb. 10 over a legal question of whether it was important for Garcia-Berrios to know that victim Brandon Cruz was likely dead when he drove the shooter, co-defendant Derek Sanders, home.

Garcia-Berrios denied that was the case.

In court filings, defense attorney Kerry Connor argued prosecutors only needed to prove he helped prevent Sanders’ arrest. Assistant District Attorney Veronica Gonzalez agreed with that point.

Gary Police responded at 11:30 a.m., November 17, 2024, to We Buy Gold, 3720 Broadway Ave. Cruz, 50, of Lake Station, was found shot in the back of the head just inside the store. Authorities suspected it was a potential theft.

Sanders, now 25, was sentenced to 45 years in prison in June after pleading guilty to murder.

Connor argued in court Tuesday that Garcia-Berrios had done “pretty well” on federal probation for his role in an unrelated RICO gang case until he was arrested in connection with Cruz’s death. Afterwards, he fell back into drugs, she argued, explaining the cocaine charge.

As a child, he was surrounded by gang members, she said.

Her stepfather, Julio Cartagena, 26, was a high-ranking member of the Two Six gang, later killed in May 2003 in a botched kidnapping after allegedly stealing a large amount of cocaine, records show.

His father, stepfather, and almost all the other “powerful men” were in gangs. Garcia-Berrios was in the gang between the ages of 12 and 20, Connor said.

Gonzalez argued that Cruz’s death was particularly cruel, since he was one of his father’s best friends. Cruz has provided financial support from time to time. She requested a 12-year prison sentence.

In lengthy remarks, Garcia-Berrios explained how he slowly tried to piece his life together after his release from federal prison. His arrest following Cruz’s death was an “unexpected catastrophe.”

Cruz was one of his father’s childhood friends, he said, like a third father. He denied any involvement in her death.

The extent of Garcia-Berrios’ involvement in the case has been disputed by lawyers for both sides. Connor strictly maintained that he drove Sanders home without knowing the details of the murder.

During one of Garcia-Berrios’ bail hearings in June, prosecutors claimed he repeatedly attacked Cruz’s pawn shop in the days and weeks before the killing, according to cellphone evidence. Sanders denied it.

During that hearing, Gonzalez also cited several text messages sent from Garcia-Berrios’ phone to a third unidentified man, which sometimes included recently taken photos of Cruz’s store.

After his arrest, Sanders told police that Cruz had recently sold him “bad” drugs and that he had gone to the pawn shop to get his money. Gary Police Detective James Nielsen testified at the bail hearing that he found no evidence of that, including no text messages between the men for a drug purchase.

A witness told Nielsen he heard Cruz say he was out of “this life” — information that matched his criminal history, which dated back more than a decade.

Garcia-Berrios was in contact with at least one guy who ended up “chickening out” before Sanders was recruited, the detective said.

Under questioning by Connor during that hearing, Nielson acknowledged that Sanders told police he panicked when Cruz grabbed a gun, before shooting him.

Connor previously noted in court that Garcia-Berrios’ upbringing had been “pretty tragic.”

In November 2002, Jesus “Chu Chu” Fuentes, the leader of the Two Six gang, ordered other gang members to kidnap Julio Cartagena’s children and their mother at gunpoint – including his stepson Garcia-Berrios days before his tenth birthday – to get the cocaine or collect the profits, according to newspaper archives.

The ordeal lasted several days, Connor said in court earlier this month.

Unsuccessful, Fuentes ordered Cartagena’s kidnapping in May 2003. He was shot and killed outside an apartment, according to Post-Tribune archives.

Connor also represented Fuentes, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison in June 2021.

Garcia-Berrios’ biological father was also shot and killed in 2017.

Garcia-Berrios was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in 2018 after admitting that he and his half-brother, also named Julio Cartagena, participated in a gang-related shooting in August 2013 on Orchard Drive in Hammond, according to court filings.

Post-Tribune archives contributed; mcolias@post-trib.com