People v. Gonzalez CA2/5

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Offense Conduct, as Established by the Evidence at Trial Ryan left home on December 11, 2017, with an insurance check for over $4,000. Ryan’s father, Robert Ryan, Sr., was “very concerned” that his son had the check because Ryan struggled with substance abuse. Ryan arrived at a check cashing business in Covina shortly after 4:00 p.m. and left with $4,132 in cash. He was accompanied by his friend, Dominguez. Later that afternoon, the two men took an Uber from Covina to El Monte. Their driver, Jose Murillo (Murillo), testified he took them to their destination—a shopping center—and agreed to wait while Ryan stepped out of the car for

2 a few minutes. Ryan and Dominguez then offered Murillo cash to drive them to a second destination in Baldwin Park. Surveillance video from a neighboring residence captured Murillo’s white Toyota Yaris arriving at a house on Cosbey Street in Baldwin Park around 5:25 p.m. Murillo testified Ryan searched his pockets for a $20 bill to pay for the ride by first removing a “wad” of cash from one pocket and then pulling “another wad of money” out of a different pocket because the first group of bills “was all hundreds.” The house…