An Alamo man who confessed to shooting and killing a McAllen resident in a botched robbery was sentenced on Tuesday to 45 years in prison.
Alex Arevalo, 26, previously confessed to shooting and killing 41-year-old Nicolas Anthony Bazan on June 19, 2017.
He had initially faced a charge of capital murder but pleaded to the lesser offense, court records show. Arevalo previously pleaded guilty on March 27, 2019.
Arevalo was accused of planning to rob Bazan of a large sum of cash and methamphetamines he and four other people believed Bazan had.
The remaining suspects include Armando Adrian Arebalo, 34, Avero Olivarez Alaniz, 54, Roberta Martinez, 38, and 40-year-old Monica Ann Winkle Gomez.
All four have pleaded not guilty.
According to the initial probable cause affidavit, McAllen police received calls around 12:42 a.m. regarding gunshots fired in the 2100 block of north Main Street.
They then received a call from a homeowner in the 1400 block of W. Vine Avenue who heard an unknown man calling for help from his backyard.
Once police arrived, they found Bazan dead from a single gunshot wound with his front pockets turned inside out.
Police managed to secure surveillance footage from the area which showed “a light colored van traveling south at the 2100 block of N. Main Street” that “suddenly [slowed] down” when Bazan is seen exiting and running away from the van.
During investigation, authorities learned that Bazan was with Arevalo and Alaniz at the Orchard Lounge in McAllen a couple days before his death.
The affidavit also said that Bazan’s brother told police that Bazan had “a large ‘wad’ of cash on him” on June 18, 2017.
During an interview with investigators, Arevalo admitted to shooting Bazan inside a van and confirmed that Martinez, who is his cousin, Alaniz, Gomez and Arebalo, who is Martinez’s boyfriend, were also inside the van at the time, according to the affidavit.
It was later revealed that Arebalo is a known ‘Loco 13’ gang member and was released on bond for state capital murder charges but was arrested in early 2018 after allegedly selling nearly two pounds of methamphetamine to an undercover FBI confidential informant.
“Arebalo is a known ‘Loco 13’ gang member who had been released on bond for state capital murder charges at the time of the narcotics sale,” the federal complaint stated. “Arebalo stated to the (confidential informant) that if he did not get enough money to pay for his lawyer, then he would flee in order to avoid his pending charge.”
He has pleaded guilty to a narcotics charge and is awaiting sentencing in his federal case.
As for Arevalo, his sentencing had been on hold as he was expected to testify against his co-defendants at their trials which had also been postponed to the pandemic in 2020.
Arebalo is in federal custody. Alaniz remains held in the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on a $1 million bond.
Martinez was released on Sept. 28, 2019 on $110,000 in bonds while Gomez, who had been out on bail, was arrested once more for failing to identify at the scene of a stabbing on Jan. 1, 2020, where authorities found methamphetamine.
She remains jailed on $6,000 in bonds.
