Giovanni Ceja: Former Texas deputy sentenced for killing father-of-7 who was returning home from sister's grave in hit-and-run

TEXAS, UNITED STATES: A former Texas jail detention deputy has reportedly received a prison sentence ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment for hitting a man on the side of a California road and running away.

As per the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, Giovanni Ceja, a deputy for the Bexar County Sheriff's Office in San Antonio at the time of the crash, was found guilty on Tuesday of second-degree murder in connection with the death of Gilberto Sotelo, 38.

Giovanni Ceja was intoxicated at the time of the collision

The crash happened early on August 7, 2023, on the southbound shoulder of Interstate 215, just north of La Cadena Drive.

According to the prosecution, Ceja, 31, was intoxicated at the time of the collision. Ceja had taken a vacation and was using a relative's vehicle.

The car Ceja was driving was connected to the fragments of the vehicle that the California Highway Patrol discovered at the scene.

As per Sotelo's family, he was filling up his Chevrolet Silverado on the side of the road when he was struck by a car that pushed his body over thirty feet into the side of an embankment.

This was reported by Fox affiliate KTTV. The TV station said that after that, someone took his phone and wallet.

According to his brother, Sotelo loved auto repair and was constantly searching for parts at a junkyard. “He’d be out there in a minute to help somebody out,” Jesus Sotelo told the outlet. “That’s just the kind of person he was.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that Gilberto Sotelo was returning by car after paying a visit to his sister's burial. In 2015, she perished in an automobile accident.

“Ironically, they both died in crashes on the freeway,” Jesus Sotelo told the newspaper. “I told our mom. I don’t think she could have handled the police knocking on her door a second time.”

Giovanni Ceja was fired after his arrest

Over $40,000 was raised via a GoFundMe page to assist with funeral costs and to support the victim's wife in raising their two to 18-year-old children.

According to a report from Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, Ceja went back to work following the incident as if nothing had happened.

The sheriff claimed that when he was arrested, he was dressed in his uniform. After being transported to the jail of a nearby county, he was subsequently extradited to California. 

Following Ceja's arrest, Salazar spoke to reporters, saying, "To hear that this person took somebody’s life that was just putting gas in his car on the side of the road, it’s embarrassing, it’s disgraceful, it’s disgusting to know that this happened."

Ceja was employed by the department in the jail after joining in 2018. After his arrest, he lost his job.