EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A Las Cruces man who killed a Gadsden High School student in a hit-and-run crash in 2019 pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle on Tuesday in the Third District Court in Las Cruces.
Oscar Ivan Anchondo, 23, also pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, tampering with evidence and one count each of driving with no driver’s license and driving with no insurance.
No sentencing date has yet been set. The District Attorney’s office will argue for the maximum sentence allowed, which is nine years.
Anchondo faced vehicular homicide in connection with the death of 16-year-old Gadsden High School student Adalberto “Beto” Romero. The Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office said Romero was getting into his car to go to school on April 3, 2019, when he was hit and killed. The accident happened at Aero Lane and Pico Lane in Mesquite, N.M.
A complaint affidavit filed at the Magistrate Court said a Dona Ana County Sergeant found Anchondo and a woman pushing the suspected vehicle into the driveway before placing him under arrest.
