The five men charged with killing six people during an alleged marijuana deal near El Mirage are challenging the admissibility of statements investigators say they made at West Valley Detention Center. The defense argues that deputies undermined the men’s constitutional rights by placing them together after advising them of their Miranda rights. San Bernardino County Superior Court had not ruled on the suppression motion as of last Friday; a December hearing is scheduled to address it and related requests.
The case dates to the night of January 23, 2024, when a 911 dispatcher received a call from 22-year-old Franklin Noel Bonilla, who reported in Spanish that he had been shot but did not know where he was. According to FOX 11, dispatchers traced his phone to a remote dirt crossroads near Lessing Avenue and Shadow Mountain Road and requested CHP air support to help find the isolated site. Deputies found five deceased individuals at the site and later located Bonilla nearby, also deceased, according to the East Bay Times, which reported that the marijuana transaction had turned into an attack that killed the would-be customers.
The other victims were identified as Baldemar Mondragon-Albarran, 34, of Adelanto; Kevin Dariel Bonilla, 25, of Hesperia; Jose Ruelas-Calderon, 45, of El Mirage; Narciso Sandoval, 47, of Adelanto; and Adrian Ochoa-Salgado, 41, of Llano, per the East Bay Times. The victims included residents of communities including Adelanto, Hesperia, El Mirage, and Llano.
Arrests, Weapons, and a Cartel Allegation
Five days after the killings, on January 28, 2024, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies executed search warrants and seized eight firearms, according to the Los Angeles Times. The five men arrested — Toniel Baez Duarte, 37, of Apple Valley; his brother Mateo Baez Duarte, 26, also of Apple Valley; Jose Nicolas Hernandez Sarabia, 35, of Adelanto; Jose Manuel Burgos Parra, 28, of Adelanto; and Jose Gregorio Hernandez Sarabia, 38, of Adelanto — pleaded not guilty, the East Bay Times reported.
San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson has described the defendants as members of a drug cartel, per the East Bay Times. Investigators questioned the men in Spanish at West Valley Detention Center on January 29, 2024, after advising them of their right to remain silent and to have an attorney present. The East Bay Times reported that investigators attributed statements to several defendants, including Toniel Baez Duarte, who allegedly said he arranged the marijuana deal and did not expect it to end in killings.
Confessions Investigators Say They Obtained
According to the East Bay Times, Jose Nicolas Hernandez Sarabia told investigators he fired approximately seven rounds from a rifle and helped set the bodies on fire with a lighter. The report also said he claimed he feared being killed if he did not follow orders. Jose Manuel Burgos Parra and Jose Gregorio Hernandez Sarabia were also charged with shooting a firearm.
Deputy Public Defender Marty V. Miller is seeking to exclude those statements from the trial record on behalf of Toniel Baez Duarte. The motion alleges that, after the men received Miranda warnings, investigators placed them together in a detention-center room to encourage incriminating statements, according to the East Bay Times. The motion challenges the circumstances of the questioning; the court’s ruling will determine whether the statements can be presented to jurors.
Death Penalty Sought Against Two Defendants
District Attorney Anderson is seeking the death penalty against Jose Nicolas Hernandez Sarabia and Jose Manuel Burgos Parra, according to the East Bay Times. All five defendants were formally charged on January 30, 2024, by the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office Major Crimes Unit with six felony counts of murder carrying special circumstance allegations for multiple murders, along with six felony counts of second-degree robbery, according to Victor Valley News.
The prosecution is seeking capital punishment in this case, according to the East Bay Times.
Defense Also Seeks Separate Trials
Beyond the suppression fight, defense attorneys have requested that the five defendants be tried individually rather than together. Judge Cheryl C. Kersey has set a December 18, 2026 hearing at the San Bernardino Justice Center to evaluate both the suppression motion and the request to sever the trials, according to the East Bay Times.
The alleged transaction occurred amid San Bernardino County’s broader enforcement efforts involving illicit cannabis activity in the High Desert. California voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2016, while the county sheriff’s department reported 411 search warrants and about 655,000 plants eradicated in the prior year.
Legal and regulatory context
The suppression dispute will turn on the circumstances of the questioning and the defendants’ claimed Miranda violations. A 2019 California Court of Appeal decision, People v. Orozco, separately considered a confession made to a person the suspect did not know was acting for law enforcement; that was a different situation from the alleged questioning of co-defendants together. The case also does not resolve the pending motion here. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions in 2019, while noting that the order did not release condemned prisoners or alter existing convictions or sentences. According to San Bernardino County Land Use Services, commercial cannabis activity, including cultivation and sale, is prohibited in the county’s unincorporated areas, with a limited exception for certain state-licensed health facilities. Separately, the California Attorney General’s Office reported that its statewide EPIC teams conducted 605 illicit-cannabis enforcement operations in 2025, recovered 170 weapons and eradicated 728,458 plants; those figures are statewide and do not establish a connection to the El Mirage investigation.
Authorities sought help identifying one of the victims. The suppression motion and severance request are awaiting the December hearing.
