Tijuana.- Authorities accused a youth leader of the PAN party of murdering a young man he befriended through Facebook.
The state Attorney Generals Office on Sunday announced that Omar González Rivera, 20, and Dafne América Prieto Abaugy, 26, had robbed and strangled the man last January in Tijuana.
The Tijuana leader of the National Action Party, the PAN, Enrique Méndez, said Monday that he regretted the death linked to González Rivera, who was the youth leader in the citys District 12 and the son of an active party member, who carries the same name.
Héctor García Crisanto, 26, was killed on Jan. 2, authorities said.
Four days later his body was discovered in the bathroom of his home, located in Praderas de La Gloria neighborhood, southeast of Tijuana. His feet and hands were tied with adhesive tape and his head was covered with plastic bags. He was asphyxiated, they said.
According to the state Attorney Generals Office, González Rivera became friends with García Crisanto through Facebook. González Rivera went to his house on Jan. 2, along with Prieto Abaugy. The pair had planned to steal his car and other valuables, the office said.
The two visited the victim for 2½ hours, while they watched videos. Authorities said González Rivera then pulled out a gun and forced the victim to sign over to him his Jetta 2000 and demanded the PIN to his debit card, they said.
Afterward, the pair tied him up and put him in the bathroom while they loaded his car with a television, stereo, DVD player, laptop computer, camara and a bottle of tequila.
Since he was making noise in the bathroom, they put adhesive tape around his neck and a cinch, asphyxiated him and took off, the state agency said.
The two were apprehended during the weekend and sent to the state penitentiary in the La Mesa district of Tijuana to await judicial proceedings.
According the PAN leader, the case against González Rivera will be reviewed by a party commission, which will decide whether to seek his expulsion from the party.
Omar.millan@sandiegored.com
