The two families united in the tragedy are facing another fight as the DUI driver who killed the child is due to be released from prison after serving a 10-year sentence of three years.
In November 2021, police say Oscar Eduardu Ortega Anguiano, a convicted felon who was illegally in the country, was driving drunk on Seal Beach when he killed 19-year-old Paul Osokin and his girlfriend, 19-year-old Anya Valforomeve.
Osokin’s father, Paul remembers his son as a talented man who he has tried. From playing music to his research at Pepperdine University, Paul says that his son’s bright future was quickly torn apart.
“I knocked on the door and there were a few police officers saying that if I wanted to tell my wife, there was a horrible accident…” Emotional Paul said.
Paul says he doesn’t feel anger towards the driver. He is only paralyzed and hopes that the person will disappear.
Varfolomeev’s father Anatoly received a knock at Palo Alto several hours later.
“And that horrible Sunday, early in the morning, at 3:30am, when the police knocked on our door, it just came out of our lives,” Anatoly said.
On Easter Sunday, Anatoly’s heartbreak turned to rage when she told her California Department of Corrections (CDCR) that the driver who killed her daughter was due to be released more than six years earlier than the sentence of more than 10 years.
“There’s no word to explain that. It just relieves all the pain and it’s that – and I feel betrayed by the system,” Anatoly said.
CDCR confirms that Ortega Anguiano has received 334 days of subject credits. It could not provide further details, but the incarcerated person says that they could earn credits to participate in rehabilitation programming.
Anya’s father has accused political leaders of the injustice of his daughter’s death.
“Governor Newsom is responsible. The Biden administration is responsible. Alejandro Mayorkas, who ran Immigration Homeland Security, is responsible for murdering children along with the criminals who did it,” Anatoly said.
Newsom’s Press Office has issued a statement that the GOP district attorney has given Anguiano a pleading agreement in exchange for pursuing a second-degree murder charge.
“After being deported in 2013, the individual illegally rejoined the United States and committed violent crimes. The GOP DA then gave a plea deal instead of pursuing a double-degree murder.
In response to the governor’s statement, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer wrote:
“This was not a plea agreement, this was a defendant who was filed in court and sentenced by a judge under California law and was declared against an Orange County prosecutor.
For two teenage families, getting justice for them is personal.
“I don’t even talk illegally or legally in this country. I really don’t care. But do you save people from prison for killing people three years later? People get punished more for doing nothing,” Paul said.
In a post on X, US lawyer Bill Essayli wrote that his office filed a felony immigration charge against Anguiano.
“If California doesn’t seek a full measure of justice for this individual, @TheJusticedept will,” the essay said.
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