The three suspects in a deadly hit-and-run collision in Woodland are scheduled to make their initial court appearances later this week.
Raymond Melchor Contreras, 34; Norma Linda Gentry, 23; and Roberto Garza Sanchez, 50; all Woodland residents, have been free on bail since shortly after their arrests in connection with the death of Richard Louis Tafoya, who was struck and killed by a vehicle Nov. 12 while walking his dog on Mariposa Street.
Yolo County prosecutors allege that Contreras was at the wheel of the Dodge pickup at the time, and that his girlfriend, Gentry, and her father Sanchez took measures to conceal his role in the collision following the incident. Gentry was a passenger in the truck when it struck the 65-year-old Tafoya, authorities say.
Contreras and Gentry are scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Dept. 1 of Yolo Superior Court, while Sanchez’s arraignment is set for 1:30 p.m. Friday in the same location.
A four-page criminal complaint filed Dec. 18 charges Contreras with hit and run causing death or permanent serious injury. Gentry and Sanchez face felony counts of being an accessory to a felony and and making a false and fraudulent insurance claim.
All three defendants are named in two other counts: destroying or concealing evidence, a misdemeanor, as well as conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, which is a felony offense.
The complaint alleges that, following the fatal collision, Contreras and Gentry fled the scene at a high rate of speed, and that all three defendants arranged for the damaged truck to be repaired at a local auto body shop.
Sanchez reportedly told his insurance company he was driving the truck — which was registered to his daughter, whose license had been suspended — when it sustained damage from hitting a milk crate.
Police have said the owner of Kergel Auto Body on Kentucky Avenue reported having the truck on its premises after reading media reports describing the suspect vehicle five days after Tafoya’s death. Investigators were able to obtain the description from a neighbor’s security video that captured the truck fleeing southbound away from the collision.
A broken vehicle part recovered from the scene matched up to the truck’s damage, according to police.
Gentry was arrested Dec. 14 after being stopped on suspicion of impaired driving, seven months after receiving a DUI conviction in May. Officers took Sanchez into custody later that day, and Contreras surrendered to police the following morning.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene