Two men charged for their involvement in the June 12, 2009, murder on Bean Street have pleaded guilty. Jose Leonel Lopez Maradiaga and Freddy Leonel Ramos Turcios were charged June 15, 2009 with 1 count of Terroristic Act, 1 count of Possession with Intent to Deliver a Controlled Substance (Cocaine) and Hindering Apprehension by 20th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Marcus Vaden.
On June 12, 2009, Conway police officers were waived down as they left the Faulkner County Detention Center on South German Lane by several people and informed that a man had been shot and was lying in a driveway at 1405 Bean Street. When officers arrived they found Julio Ivan Cota, 27, with multiple gunshot wounds. Cota was transported to Conway Regional Hospital where he died.
According to eye-witnesses of the crime, officers were given the names of the 3 suspects, Ramon Arnesto Mendez Rodriguez, Jose Leonel Lopez Maradiaga and Freddy Leonel Ramos Turcios. Witnesses described Maradiaga as the driver, Rodriguez as the shooter and Turcios as the passenger in the back seat. A short time after the shooting, Arkansas State Police located the vehicle with the 3 occupants in Maumelle where they were taken into custody and transported back to the Conway Police Department. While the search for the 3 suspects was ongoing, officers obtained a search warrant to search the 3 men’s residence where they found, among other things, a quantity of cocaine.
Maradiaga agreed to plead guilty to Hindering Apprehension and Possession with Intent to Deliver a Controlled Substance (Cocaine) and he received 120 months in the Arkansas Department of Correction and an additional 240 months in the Arkansas Department Correction suspended conditioned upon him not reentering the United States illegally. Upon his release, Maradiaga will face deportation proceedings to Honduras.
Turcios, the passenger in the vehicle, pled guilty to Hindering Apprehension and received a 240 month suspended sentence in the Arkansas Department of Correction, conditioned upon him not reentering the United States illegally. Turcios will face immediate deportation proceedings to Honduras.
