Parole violator headed to prison (again)
A 25-year-old Coachella gang member who shot his girlfriend and another man was sentenced today to more than 45 years in state prison.
Lawrence George Moreno was handed a 45-year, 4-month sentence for the Aug. 12, 2015 shootings of his girlfriend and another man and the July 25, 2015 shooting of his girlfriend. Both attacks occurred at the same Indio apartment complex.
Moreno, also known as “Little Chubs,” pleaded guilty earlier this month to two counts of attempted murder after pleading not guilty in August. His sentence was enhanced for using a firearm, causing great bodily injury and for having a serious prior felony conviction in regard to a September 2007 kidnapping.
Police said Moreno first shot his 20-year-old girlfriend in the leg on July 25. Officers were able to locate Moreno, a documented member of local gang Varrio Coachella Rifa, because he was a recent parolee and wearing a GPS ankle bracelet at the time of the shooting. He was arrested on July 30 on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, being a felon in possession of a firearm and a parole violation, but was released on $1,000 bail on Aug. 8. The girlfriend was treated and released from the hospital.
Four days later, police were called to the apartment, where Moreno’s girlfriend had suffered new gunshot wounds, this time to her lower back and upper thigh, according to Indio Sgt. Daniel Marshall. She was taken to a hospital in serious condition. She is expected to be paralyzed from her injuries.
A man with a non-life threatening gunshot wound to his upper shoulder was also treated that day at a different medical facility. Police determined that both victims were shot by Moreno and that the man had been shot while outside the apartment with Moreno’s girlfriend, Marshall said.
Two other people told police that Moreno had shot at them on Aug. 12.
Moreno was on the lam for two days following the shooting, having cut off his GPS ankle bracelet to evade police detection. He was arrested at a home in Coachella by Indio police and Riverside County sheriff’s deputies.
