Document: Facebook accounts, text messages led detectives to accused killers
Criminal complaints obtained by ABC-7 state detectives identified the suspects allegedly involved in the shooting death of a teenager with the help of Facebook accounts and text messages.
Detectives with the Crimes Against Persons Unit arrested and charged 20-year-old Richard Soriano and 17-year old Moses Jack Popp in connection to the murder of 16-year-old Trevion Veal.
Soriano and Popp are both charged with Murder.
The shooting happened just before 3 a.m. March 12, 2018 at the apartment complex located at 5250 Wren, police said. Investigators said Popp and Soriano killed Veal during a drug deal.
When police officers responding to a shots fired call arrived at the apartment complex, they found Veal dead from a gunshot wound. Officers found a counterfeit $100 bill on Veal’s person, a criminal complaint states.
Detective were given access to Veal’s Facebook account – “Odd Drizzle” – by the victim’s sister and learned Veal was arranging the sale of cocaine to an individual with a Facebook profile named “Moy ZanDalio (Klownster).”
In Facebook messages, Veal and Moy agreed on a price of $100 for the narcotics and Moy identified himself as being a “Loko from Midnight,” the criminal complaint states.
Veal set up a meeting place at 5250 Wren, a criminal complaint states. Police said text messages sent after 2 a.m. indicated Moy and Veal met in the parking lot.
A few minutes later, a 911 call was placed by a person who told police he witnessed the shooting. The eyewitness told police, that moments before the shooting, he observed the victim standing right next to the passenger side window of what appeared to be a Crown Victoria or Grand Marquis. The witness told police that as he drove by the vehicle, he heard a gunshot and saw the victim fall to the ground.
Detectives later spoke with Veal’s girlfriend, who said the Facebook account for “Moy” belonged to Popp. Detectives found a group photo on Moy’s Facebook account, and with the help of the Gang Unit, identified Popp and Soriano from interactions in previous investigations. Gang Unit officers said Popp and Soriano are members of a street gang known as “Los Midnight Lokos.” Investigators said Soriano was “associated with a Crown Victoria that matched the description of the suspect vehicle provided by witnesses,” the court documents state.
Later that morning, police officers spotted the Crown Victoria and conducted a traffic stop. Officers allegedly found what appeared to be blood “on the inside of the passenger door,” the criminal complaint states. Soriano, the driver, claimed to be owner of the Crown Victoria.
Under interrogation, Soriano told investigators he did not know anything about the “incident” and that he had loaned his car to Popp so that Popp and another person could go buy drugs from “Drizzle.” Soriano told investigators that when Popp and the other person returned from their meeting with Drizzle, that Popp said they had “popped a guy.”
A criminal complaint states Soriano wrote all of the information on a piece of paper for investigators. At the bottom of the paper, Soriano allegedly wrote “I did it” in large letters. The criminal complaint does not explain the contradiction between Soriano’s story and the “I did it” phrase written at the bottom of the paper.
When detectives interviewed Popp, he allegedly told them he was involved in the murder, but could not name the person who pulled the trigger. Popp said he set up the meeting with Veal and that Soriano was in the Crown Victoria when Veal was shot dead.
Detectives interviewed a witness who lives with Popp and that witness allegedly told them Soriano was with Popp the night of the murder. The witness told investigators Soriano and Popp left in the Crown Victoria together to go buy drugs. When Soriano and Popp returned, the witness said, Popp allegedly admitted they had shot someone.
Soriano was booked into the county jail on a $1-million bond. Popp was jailed on a $750,000 bond.
