An alleged accomplice to the killing of a man in the victim’s RV near Anaheim as part of an apparent robbery and revenge scheme was charged with murder on Monday, the same day that the actual gunman was convicted by a jury.

Rey Jesus Najera, 31, is also facing felony assault charges for his role in the May 14, 2019 killing of 28-year-old Eli Gamaliel Victoriano-Che. Prosecutors allege that Najera brandished a metal pipe during the fatal confrontation, court records show. But another man — Ricardo Campos — actually shot and killed Victoriano-Che.

Hours before the shooting, Victoriano-Che was in a motel room with Johanna Leon-Pateyro, who accused Victoriano-Che of making unwanted sexual advances toward her. Police were called, Victoriano-Che left the motel, and Leon-Pateyro hid methamphetamine from the responding officers and gave them a false name.

Still angry at Victoriano-Che for the unwanted advances and believing he was responsible for her encounter with police, Leon-Pateyro called up several friends — including Campos and Najera — and prosecutors say the group went to confront and rob Victoriano-Che at an RV he was staying in on the 8400 block of Augusta Drive in an unincorporated area near Anaheim.

“I felt he was trying to force me to do something I didn’t wanna do after repeatedly me telling him no,” Leon-Pateyro would later tell investigators about Victoriano-Che. “So, I got mad, I got upset and things happened…

“I knew that he (Victoriano-Che) was going to get shot,” Leon-Pateyro later said, according to court filings. “I just didn’t know he was gonna get shot in the head.”

A friend of Victoriano-Che’s initially refused to let the group into the RV, but relented after Campos brandished a firearm. Campos then shot Victoriano-Che, who was seated at a table, once in the head.

Leon-Pateyro and two other people identified Campos — who had fled to Texas — as the gunman. In 2020, Leon-Pateyro pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced 11 years in prison. Two years later, Campos was arrested in Texas and brought back to California to face trial for Victoriano-Che’s killing.

Najera’s alleged role in the killing of Victoriano-Che is not clear from court filings. But testimony from Campos’ recent murder trial convinced prosecutors to file the murder case against Najera as well, Orange County District Attorney’s Office Spokeswoman Kimberly Edds said.

The charges against Najera were filed less than an hour before jurors in Campos’ trial reached a guilty verdict.

Najera has not yet entered a plea.

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