Informant Says Strobel Was Targeted for Robbery

A police informant who wore a recording device to get Jose “Pepe” Castillo to admit to killing Jesse Strobel testified Wednesday that Castillo told him he was trying to get money during the deadly attack.

The testimony came during the trial of another man, Ryan Simas, 24, who has been charged with murder in the Jan. 29, 1993, homicide. Prosecutors maintain that Simas participated in the fight in which Strobel was killed and then drove a carload of teens from the scene.

Prosecutors have also charged Simas with a special allegation that the slaying occurred during a robbery attempt.

The tape of Castillo’s admission, which was played in Juvenile Court on Wednesday afternoon, described in detail the events that occurred on the night of Strobel’s death.

Castillo also pleaded guilty in another slaying, and is now in custody at an undisclosed location in Ventura County, facing a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

This is the first time that Castillo’s account of the night had been heard publicly.

After admitting his role in the attack to the informant, Castillo pleaded guilty to the murder of the 17-year-old Ventura High School football player. He was sentenced to four years in custody for the Strobel killing because he was 15 at the time. However, Castillo is not expected to testify at Simas’ trial because of his rights against self-incrimination.

Prosecutors said they hoped the tape and transcripts, which were admitted as evidence by Superior Court Judge Brian Back, will prove the motive of robbery and convict Simas.

“I’m pleased,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Simon said. “It was a long, hard-fought battle.”

But Simas’ defense attorney, Richard Millard, said he still doesn’t believe there is enough evidence to convict his client of murder or to support a robbery allegation.

Castillo did not mention Simas during the tape, according to the transcripts. But other witnesses have connected Simas to the crime.

“It didn’t help,” Millard said about the tape being admitted as evidence against his client. “But the statement itself doesn’t come outright and state it was a robbery.”

Millard had argued that the tape should not have been admitted primarily because Castillo was under the influence of drugs at the time. The informant admitted that the pair smoked marijuana that afternoon. And in a hearing for another trial, Millard said, Castillo admitted being drunk and high on speed when he met with the informant.

Millard maintains that Simas, who was 16 at the time of the killing, was a good kid with a clear record who concealed knowledge of the slaying because he feared Castillo. Simas now lives in Los Angeles and works as a chef at Spago, a well-known West Hollywood restaurant.

The informant, who is in a witness protection program and has pending criminal charges, said Castillo had told him previously that he and others were trying to get money from Strobel when they attacked him on a Ventura street.

The informant testified Wednesday that he had learned that his former friend, Castillo, had killed Strobel, so he went to police and agreed to wear a recording device in exchange for help avoiding jail time on other charges.

He went to Castillo’s house, where they had the conversation that was recorded. In that, Castillo described how Strobel was killed. That tape led authorities to solve the Strobel case after six years of thinking another teenager, whom Simas had identified, was the real killer.

“He said they wanted money,” the informant testified Wednesday afternoon. “That’s what he told me they were looking for.”

While he was wearing a recording device, the informant asked Castillo if he got any money. Castillo responded, “Dude was too live,” according to the prosecution’s transcript.

During the tape, Castillo also described how he and others first saw Strobel walking near the Carl’s Jr. restaurant on Thompson Boulevard. Then they “stalked him,” as they followed him first to Ventura High School and then to a residential street where there were fewer cars and people.

That’s when Castillo said he and the others got out of the car and kicked, hit and stabbed Strobel several times. Strobel, he said, “didn’t want to stay down.”

“I stuck him more than once, dog,” Castillo said, according to the prosecution’s transcript. “More than twice. I don’t remember, exactly but it was like, four or something like that. And finally, he went down and we started kickin’ him.”

When Strobel got up to run, Castillo said, he and the others chased him up the street through a “rich neighborhood.”

According to prosecutors, Strobel, 17, was jumped by the carload of teens while he was walking home from work. The Ventura football player died after being stabbed in the chest defending himself.

The informant was the prosecution’s last witness. The case is being handled in Juvenile Court because Simas was 16 at the time of the slaying. If convicted, Simas likely faces less than a year in custody. He would also have a felony strike on his record.

Millard said he will ask the judge to dismiss the case today, saying there is not enough evidence to convict Simas.

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Times staff writer Tracy Wilson contributed to this story.