Teen pleads guilty, 3 fight charges in shooting death of ‘General Hospital’ actor

LOS ANGELES (CN) — Four men charged in the murder of actor Johnny Wactor appeared in court Thursday for their arraignment. Three pleaded not guilty while the fourth, charged with robbery and currently out on bail, pleaded guilty.

The 37-year-old Wactor, a workaday actor who appeared sporadically on a number of television shows including "Westworld" and "NCIS," also worked as a bartender in downtown Los Angeles. He was leaving work at around 3 a.m. on May 25 when he came upon three men trying to steal the catalytic converter from his Toyota Prius. A witness has said the actor hurried to the car, at first thinking he was about to be towed. When he realized what was happening, he approached with hands raised, to indicate that he was unarmed. One of the men shot Wactor in the chest at close range. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Robert Barceleau, the alleged gunman, is being charged with murder and grand theft. Sergio Estrada is also charged with murder and grand theft. Both are 18 years old; both pleaded not guilty.

Leonel Gutierrez, also 18, is charged with robbery and grand theft. He entered an "open plea" of guilty to both charges, meaning no plea agreement was reached beforehand. Gutierrez also pleaded guilty to the special circumstances of the use of a firearm in the robbery, which typically increases the sentence.

Frank Olano, 22, is charged with one count of accessory after the fact to murder; one count of receiving stolen property; and three counts of being a felon with a firearm. He pleaded not guilty.

“Johnny Wactor’s life was senselessly taken while he was simply walking to his parked car in downtown Los Angeles," LA County District Attorney George Gascón said in a written statement earlier this month, after the charges were filed. “The loss of this talented young actor, who was in the prime of his life and had so much to offer the world, is deeply felt by all of us."

Barceleau, Estrada and Gutierrez are all reportedly members of the Florencia 13 gang, a notorious Mexican gang operating in South LA. All have been arrested for other crimes in the past. According to an LAPD search warrant, their fingerprints matched those lifted from the floor jack left at Wactor’s car. According to the Los Angeles Times, some of the men further implicated themselves in a jailhouse recording, after being arrested.

The murder rate in Los Angeles has been dropping for two years in a row; it remains high compared to the rest of California, but lower than many other major cities in the U.S. Catalytic converter thefts, long a thorny problem in car-centric and Prius-loving Southern California, have dropped precipitously this year, according to the data news website Crosstown LA.

Wactor's murder sparked a public outcry. Before the suspects' arrest, a rally was held demanding justice, and when the defendants were arrested Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement thanking the LAPD and expressing "continued condolences to the Wactor family and the community mourning his loss," adding, "We must continue to take aggressive action to make our city safer.” After the four men were charged, some were angry that they weren't being charged with special "gang enhancements," which would extend the sentences of the defendants if convicted.

Barceleau, the alleged shooter, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, and is being held without bail. Estrada faces life in prison with the possibility of parole; his bail was set at just over $2 million.

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