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Oscar Moriel

Description

Date of Birth: 9/22/1980

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown

Weight: 185

Height: 5/10

Race: Mexican-Latin American

Additional: Moriel had longstanding ties with the Mexican Mafia and he first became involved in organized crime at an early age. By the time he was 28 he faced the possibility of being sentenced under California’s Three Strikes law.

Wanted For

  • Robbery
  • Burglary
  • Drive-by shootings
  • 6 counts of murder

The Story

By the time he was 28 years old, this Delhi Gang member was a twice-convicted violent felon who had already killed at least six people. And the next time he found himself in trouble with the law, and was facing life behind bars without the possibility of parole, he thought he’d sing a different tune.

In early 2009 he asked law enforcement officials if he could work out a deal where he’d switch proverbial teams, and start to work as a snitch and informant. The quid-pro-quo request was fairly impressive- not only did he want to receive $50,000, he wanted his criminal record expunged along with a recommendation to enter the US armed forces.

Law enforcement officials, though, are legally required to divulge when they are working with in-jail informants. But in this case, prosecutors worked very hard to conceal nearly all of it. The defendant’s 2005 murder case is also starting to smell a bit suspicious, especially when you take into account it’s been delayed more than 35 times in the past nine years.

To this day, members of the Orange County District Attorney’s office say they complied with all the necessary legal requirements, and have even gone so far as to turn the attack on the public defender’s office.

In terms of where Moriel is now, well that’s a mystery. The Orange County Jail website shows someone of the same name was booked into the Orange County Jail in June 2006 on gang and murder charges, but was transferred to an outside agency at the end of that same month. But if you do a search of state prison inmates, his name doesn’t show up on any of those lists.

 

Last Updated:  06/27/2014