Cesareo
The first of four defendants accused in an alleged murder-for-hire in 2020 has been ordered to serve 40 years in prison after a sentencing hearing in Bartholomew Superior Count 1.
That was the maximum that Abraham Jimenez Cesareo, 38, could have received from Judge James Worton under a plea agreement revised last June. Cesareo received 28 years in prison for robbery resulting in serious bodily injury as a Level 2 felony, and 12 years for aiding, inducing or causing kidnapping while hijacking a vehicle as a Level 3 felony. The judge ordered that the sentences be served consecutively.
Cesareo is accused of hiring a Chicago man, Eliel Avelar, to physically harm 37-year-old Leobardo Rodriguez Flores due to his jealousy over a woman, according to court documents. Flores was allegedly shot and killed by Avelar on Feb. 26, 2020 in the parking lot of the victim’s employer, Tool Dynamics, on South Marr Road in Columbus.
While Avelar was reportedly jealous that Flores had been seeing his girlfriend of 11 years, Columbus Police Detective Sgt. Thomas Foust testified Thursday Avelar and the woman had separated several months before the killing. Co-investigator Detective Sgt. Matt Martindale testified that Cesareo had attempted to hire four other men to physically harm Flores before co-defendant Eladia Jacobo Ortiz suggested Avelar, a probable cause affidavit states.
The defendant had always maintained that he just wanted someone to beat up Flores, Foust said. But a recording obtained by police of Cesareo talking to another person showed he used a Mexican slang term when referring to what he wanted done to Flores. In English, the slang translates to “get to the whole root,” Foust said. When Bartholomew County Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay asked what the term meant, the detective said “kidnap, torture and kill a person.”
Ortiz identified Avelar as the trigger man after he kept demanding additional amounts of money for the murder that finally totaled $7,500, Foust testified. She was the one who had an app that allowed her to record Cesareo’s phone conversations without his knowledge, according to testimony.
The detective said Avelar drove Flores’ car from the scene to make it look like Flores was a robbery victim.
Bartholomew County Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay successfully challenged tactics and arguments established by defense attorneys Jonathan Harwell and Star Martinez several times.
For example, the defense argued that Cesareo was escaping from poverty, criminals and drug cartels when he left Mexico, and was still emotionally fragile over the murder of his father.
In response, Holden-Kay called Flores’ uncle, Ernesto Hernandez, to the stand. He testified that while Cesareo claimed he fled organized crime in Mexico when he came to the United States, he turned to organized crime in Chicago to get his revenge on Flores.
The defense claimed that Cesareo’s family in Mexico, especially his nieces, nephews and grandmother, needed his financial and emotional support.
However, Holden-Kay and Judge Worton pointed out that Cesareo has no children of his own to support while the victim has multiple children residing in Mexico.
Testifying through video conferencing, the victim’s sister, Juana Rodriguez, said all but one of Flores’ children has been forced to leave school in order to work because they no longer receive income from their father.
The victim’s oldest daughter, Rosa Maria Rodriguez-Reyes, said via video conferencing that her father’s murder has left her entire family hurting emotionally and physically, as well as economically.
Since Cesareo had thousands of dollars to pay a member of organized crime to attack Flores, Worton said the story about sending much of his money to support family in Mexico seems disingenuous.
In a statement, the defendant said he had never been in trouble, never harmed anyone and never wanted to hurt another person.
In response, Holden-Kay reminded the court that Cesareo had violated a protective order prior to the killing and the violation indicated that Cesareo has exhibited violent behavior in the past.
Former prosecutor Bill Nash had made an agreement with Avelar to give him a 17½-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter if he agreed to testify against the other defendants. But the judge threw out that agreement after Holden-Kay expressed confidence she could get convictions without Avelar’s testimony.
Avelar is charged with nine felonies that includes a murder charge, as well as three misdemeanors. He will appear before Worton for a change of plea hearing at 9 a.m. on Sept. 18.
Ortiz, who is charged with aiding, inducing or causing murder, is scheduled to appear for her change of plea hearing at 9:15 a.m. on Oct. 11. The final defendant, Esam Mohammed Abujoudeh, is charged with battery and obstruction of justice. The Oak Forrest, Illinois, man is scheduled to go before Worton for a change of plea hearing at 10 a.m. on Nov. 13.
