MONROE - A Beloit man involved in a drug-related robbery last April in downtown Monroe that ended in the arrest of another man and the death of a third was sentenced to three years in prison and three years of extended supervision Wednesday, May 2, in Green County Circuit Court.
Luis E. Cruz, 31, will serve less than two years of the prison sentence since he accumulated 393 days of credit sitting in jail in the past year. He's also eligible for the Earned Release Program, which can reduce an inmate's prison time through successful completion of drug and alcohol treatment.
Cruz must also serve an additional two years of probation.
His codefendant in the case, Luis E. Western, also of Beloit, received a similar sentence in early April: three years in prison, minus about a year of sentence credit, and four years of extended supervision.
According to the case against Cruz, as presented by District Attorney Gary Luhman:
Cruz rode "on a lark" to Monroe with Western and a third Beloit man, Jonathan Guadarrama, to collect a drug debt for a dealer named "Primo" from the owner of the El Borrego grocery store in the 1000 block of 16th Avenue on April 5, 2011. Cruz and Western were informants for a Rock County drug agent at the time, but the trip was not at the agent's request.
Cruz and Guadarrama forced the store owner to cash a check at a nearby bank while Western kept watch at the grocery. A bank teller got suspicious and called police to report the hold-up.
The incident put downtown Monroe on lockdown. Bank employees were able to slip out of the bank building without harm.
Guadarrama, who was armed and waiting in a minivan outside the bank, died a short time later after leading police on a high-speed chase down Wisconsin 11/81. He lost control of the vehicle and rolled it; the fatal accident occurred east of Juda.
Cruz pleaded no contest and was convicted in February of Class G felony theft and Class A misdemeanors of battery and theft. A felony charge of false imprisonment was dismissed.
A dozen of Cruz's friends and family turned out for the sentencing. Defense attorney Ronald Benavides also presented Judge Thomas Vale with about five letters supporting Cruz, and called on the defendant's sister and his longtime girlfriend to give testimony on his character.
"When I needed a brother," sister Rosa Cruz told the court, "he was always there. And he's still there. If the neighbor needs a favor, he's there, no doubt."
The mother of his two daughters and girlfriend of 15 years, Claudia Fermin, said he'd made a mistake and gone around with the wrong people. Their 5-year-old girl asks every day when her dad is coming back, she said. As Fermin walked back to her seat, she mouthed "I love you" to Cruz.
When given the opportunity to speak, Cruz told the judge he was "deeply sorry."
"I take my responsibility," he said. He hastened to add, however, that he was not the one who was armed during the visit to Monroe.
Before he issued his sentence, Judge Vale said Cruz had ignored plenty of opportunities to back out of the deal and walk away from the situation: "You didn't stop it."
Vale said the outpouring of support from friends and family was encouraging but not the whole story and it wasn't enough to sway him from sentencing prison time for a drug-related crime.
Holding up his hand, palm out, Vale said, "When I hold up my hand, your friends and family see the front of my hand. I see the backside."
Luis E. Cruz, 31, will serve less than two years of the prison sentence since he accumulated 393 days of credit sitting in jail in the past year. He's also eligible for the Earned Release Program, which can reduce an inmate's prison time through successful completion of drug and alcohol treatment.
Cruz must also serve an additional two years of probation.
His codefendant in the case, Luis E. Western, also of Beloit, received a similar sentence in early April: three years in prison, minus about a year of sentence credit, and four years of extended supervision.
According to the case against Cruz, as presented by District Attorney Gary Luhman:
Cruz rode "on a lark" to Monroe with Western and a third Beloit man, Jonathan Guadarrama, to collect a drug debt for a dealer named "Primo" from the owner of the El Borrego grocery store in the 1000 block of 16th Avenue on April 5, 2011. Cruz and Western were informants for a Rock County drug agent at the time, but the trip was not at the agent's request.
Cruz and Guadarrama forced the store owner to cash a check at a nearby bank while Western kept watch at the grocery. A bank teller got suspicious and called police to report the hold-up.
The incident put downtown Monroe on lockdown. Bank employees were able to slip out of the bank building without harm.
Guadarrama, who was armed and waiting in a minivan outside the bank, died a short time later after leading police on a high-speed chase down Wisconsin 11/81. He lost control of the vehicle and rolled it; the fatal accident occurred east of Juda.
Cruz pleaded no contest and was convicted in February of Class G felony theft and Class A misdemeanors of battery and theft. A felony charge of false imprisonment was dismissed.
A dozen of Cruz's friends and family turned out for the sentencing. Defense attorney Ronald Benavides also presented Judge Thomas Vale with about five letters supporting Cruz, and called on the defendant's sister and his longtime girlfriend to give testimony on his character.
"When I needed a brother," sister Rosa Cruz told the court, "he was always there. And he's still there. If the neighbor needs a favor, he's there, no doubt."
The mother of his two daughters and girlfriend of 15 years, Claudia Fermin, said he'd made a mistake and gone around with the wrong people. Their 5-year-old girl asks every day when her dad is coming back, she said. As Fermin walked back to her seat, she mouthed "I love you" to Cruz.
When given the opportunity to speak, Cruz told the judge he was "deeply sorry."
"I take my responsibility," he said. He hastened to add, however, that he was not the one who was armed during the visit to Monroe.
Before he issued his sentence, Judge Vale said Cruz had ignored plenty of opportunities to back out of the deal and walk away from the situation: "You didn't stop it."
Vale said the outpouring of support from friends and family was encouraging but not the whole story and it wasn't enough to sway him from sentencing prison time for a drug-related crime.
Holding up his hand, palm out, Vale said, "When I hold up my hand, your friends and family see the front of my hand. I see the backside."