Ricardo Tolento, a street racer whose unlawful and unsafe driving directly led to the death of Eugene “Gene” Harbrecht a 67-year-old news editor in Santa Ana five years ago was sentenced by O.C. Superior Court Judge Kimberly Menninger, a former prosecutor, to only nine years in prison on Friday, April 4.
Tolento’s defense attorney, Tom Nocella, a public defender told the court that the other street racer who was arrested in the Harbrecht incident, Louie Robert Villa, was the only one to blame for the crash. Tolento repeatedly denied, during his courtroom testimony, that he was racing Villa.
Tolento testified that he needed to merge since the lane he was in ended on the other side of the intersection and he was worried that Villa wasn’t going to let him over. Tolento was in a lane to the right of Villa at the time. Tolento said he accelerated in order to get ahead of Villa and he claimed that he was already in the process of slowing down when Villa abruptly pulled around him and crashed into Harbrecht’s vehicle, a 2011 Ford Ranger pickup truck.
However, dashcam video showed the two drivers rapidly accelerating just as the traffic lights turned green, refuting Tolento’s blatant lies.
Deputy Orange County District Attorney Brian Orue told the jurors “You put that video up, you press play and it is pretty obvious what is going on. They turned Bristol into their own personal race track and a man paid the ultimate price.”
Menninger said she was restricted from considering some of the aggravating factors in the case because Tolento was under the age of 26 at the time of the crime and was considered a youthful offender – pro-criminal laws that have been passed by the California State Legilature in recent years.
As Villa was drunk at the time of the crash and had a previous DUI conviction, he was found guilty of a more serious count of second-degree murder during an earlier trial and he.was ultimately sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
On Thursday, July 30, 2020 at 11:43 AM, the Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) received several calls of a traffic collision involving an overturned vehicle at the intersection of N. Bristol St. and W. Santa Clara Ave.
Officers responded to the area and located the collision. Orange County Fire Authority personnel responded and began to treat both drivers. They were transported to an area hospital where one of the drivers was pronounced deceased by hospital staff.
The investigation revealed two vehicles, a BMW and an Infinity were racing north on Bristol St. approaching Santa Clara Ave. A Ford truck was traveling south on Bristol St., making a left turn onto Santa Clara Ave. As the Ford made the left turn, it was struck by the BMW. The Infinity fled the scene after the collision. The license plate of the Infinity was provided by a witness.
SAPD Officers located the Infinity and the driver, identified as Ricardo Tolento Navarro from Santa Ana, was arrested at the scene for vehicular manslaughter. He was booked at the Santa Ana Jail.
The driver of the BMW, identified as Louie Robert Villa from Santa Ana, was arrested at the hospital for felony vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. He remains in custody at an area hospital.
