Renteria v. State

199 S.W.3d 499, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 6423, 2006 WL 2043875
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 20, 2006
Docket01-05-00590-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 199 S.W.3d 499 (Renteria v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Renteria v. State, 199 S.W.3d 499, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 6423, 2006 WL 2043875 (Tex. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

JANE BLAND, Justice.

The State charged Manuel Renteria with the felony offense of engaging in organized criminal activity, for which the jury found him guilty. After finding an enhancement paragraph true that Renteria previously had been convicted of a felony offense, the trial court sentenced Renteria to forty-five years’ imprisonment. In two issues on appeal, Renteria contends (1) the evidence is legally insufficient to demonstrate either the individual or group mens rea required to support his conviction, and (2) the trial court erred in not requiring *501 the State to elect one paragraph from the indictment on which to proceed. We affirm.

Background

In June 2002, police officers recovered an abandoned salvage vehicle from a body shop in Fort Bend County, with its Vehicle Identification Number (“VIN”) and other identifying information removed. Sergeant Cantu, an investigator for the Motor Vehicle Theft Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety, examined the vehicle, determined its VIN, and discovered that the VTN had recently been re-registered, indicating the VIN probably had been placed on a stolen vehicle that had been sold and registered under the salvage VIN. Cantu and his partner, Sergeant Kucifer, subsequently began investigating a series of similar vehicles, most of them late-'90s Ford or Chevrolet extended-cab step-side trucks. Cantu and Kuci-fer determined that the vehicles had been purchased at salvage, whereupon their VINs and mylar federal safety stickers were removed and placed on stolen vehicles. The altered, stolen vehicles were then sold at local flea markets. Cantu and Kucifer visited salvage dealers and compiled lists of the individuals purchasing salvage vehicles. Based on the recurring names on those lists, the investigators created a list of suspects and a list of “target vehicles” that had been purchased at salvage auctions by those suspects. The VIN numbers from those target vehicles later appeared on stolen vehicles. The officers linked the stolen vehicles sold at the flea market to the suspected auto theft ring because the vehicles bore paper license plates with the name “ZM Auto Sales.” In addition, many of the vehicles had been registered at AAA Title Services. The investigators ultimately determined that 137 vehicles had been stolen, altered, and sold by Renteria, Jose Nieto, Pius Opondo, Ezequil Ponce, Jose Adame (“Jose”), Angel Adame (“Angel”), Francisco Barrera, and Hugo Rodriguez, who the State tried at the same time as Renteria.

At trial, Bernardo Zuniga testified that he purchased a 1997 Ford step-side pickup truck from Ponce at the flea market in May 2002. The truck was stolen. Zuniga later identified Ponce from a photo line-up and in court. Armando Garcia testified that he purchased a 1997 extended-cab Ford truck, later determined to be stolen, from Rodriguez at the flea market. Rene Sanchez testified that Rodriguez sold him a stolen black Ford truck at a flea market in April 2002, and that Renteria later traded a stolen Chevrolet track for a Ford truck with Sanchez’s brother, Cerillo. Cerillo Sanchez testified that Renteria sold him a stolen red step-side track at the flea market in April 2002. Police officers observed Aldo Perez at the flea market attempting to sell one of the vehicles associated with the investigation. Alfredo Saucedo testified that he purchased an extended-cab step-side Ford truck, later determined to be stolen, that he had seen at the flea market from Renteria in March 2002. He later traded the track back to Renteria for another stolen truck.

Another witness informed investigators that Nieto had sold him a stolen vehicle. Investigators discovered a “ZM Auto Sales” tag on that vehicle. When investigators went to Nieto’s address, they discovered another stolen vehicle for sale in the driveway. The investigators arrested Nieto and obtained consent to search his house. In his house, they discovered a Ford ignition switch and a registration receipt for yet another stolen vehicle. They also discovered a driver’s license and credit card belonging to Yolanda Brignac, whose vehicle had been stolen and linked to this particular auto theft ring. Brignac testified that her extended-cab side-step *502 Ford truck was stolen in July 2002, and that her purse was in the truck when it was stolen.

The State charged Filomeno Adame (“Filomeno”) with stealing four of the vehicles associated with the ring. Filomeno had a relationship with Renteria’s - daughter, and he helped Renteria sell stolen trucks. Renteria gave him the trucks to take to the flea market, and would pay him $300 to sell the trucks. Renteria instructed Filomeno to refer purchasers to AAA Title Services. Filomeno also helped Renteria clean the trucks to prepare them for sale at a house on Heatherbrook. Filo-meno testified that his brother Angel lived in the house, but Angel decided to move, and Renteria offered to continue to pay the rent so Renteria could work on the trucks there. In all, Filomeno helped Renteria sell ten trucks. Filomeno saw Renteria remove VINs from the vehicles and replace them with different VINs. Fi-lomeno pled guilty to theft in April 2003. He cooperated with prosecutors in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Eva Renteria, Renteria’s daughter, testified that her father was unhappy when he discovered that she was dating Filomeno, who was married. When Filomeno was in jail for theft charges, Filomeno called her often asking questions about Rodriguez and Renteria. She testified that Filomeno hated her father, and had accused her of cheating on him with Rodriguez. She further testified that Filomeno was living with his brother, Angel, and that the two of them drove different trucks every week.

Alfredo Ramiro owned Bronco’s Auto Sales. A licensed salvage dealer, he purchased salvage vehicles on behalf of members of the auto theft ring. Ramiro bought cars from salvage auctions, repaired them in his salvage shop, and sold them. Ramiro testified that Renteria approached him and told him that he bought many trucks, and inquired if Ramiro could buy some salvage trucks for him. Rente-ria visited the auction yard the day before the auction, and then told Ramiro which vehicles he wanted to purchase. Renteria paid Ramiro for purchasing the vehicles for him. Ramiro estimated that he bought thirty vehicles for Renteria at the salvage auction. Renteria paid him one hundred dollars per vehicle. Renteria introduced Ramiro to Rodriguez, and told him that Rodriguez would attend the auctions and would tell him how much to bid for the trucks they wanted to purchase. Ramiro saw Rodriguez, Renteria, Nieto, and Angel together at the auctions. He purchased vehicles for all of them on occasion because he believed them to be part of the same group.

Cantu and Kucifer testified that forty-three of the salvage vehicles whose VINs had been found on stolen vehicles were towed to a salvage yard in Wallis, Texas and abandoned. Charles Spates testified that Rodriguez paid him a couple of hundred dollars to store between two and four vehicles temporarily on his property, and made an arrangement thereafter for wrecker drivers to deliver and store other vehicles on Spates’s property. Spates testified that around forty vehicles were stored on his property by Rodriguez’s associates. Cantu testified that investigators found these vehicles on the Spates property with their VINs removed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
199 S.W.3d 499, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 6423, 2006 WL 2043875, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/renteria-v-state-texapp-2006.