Brothers convicted of robbing, shooting laborers

RIVERSIDE - Two brothers who robbed and shot farm workers in an avocado grove in DeLuz were convicted today of attempted murder and other charges.

Esau Bravo Vasquez, 28, and Ismael Vasquez, 20, face multiple life prison terms when they're sentenced by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Michele Levine on April 15.

A Riverside jury spent Wednesday afternoon and most of today behind closed doors before finding the defendants guilty of two counts each of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, as well as one count each of robbery, kidnapping and making criminal threats for attacking a group of migrants in DeLuz on April 7, 2007.

The Perris men are being held without bail at the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta.

On the day of the attack, the Vasquez brothers armed themselves with handguns and went looking for farm workers to rob in the area of Carancho and Los Gatos roads, according to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

They abducted one migrant, Vicente Avalos, who was bound, beaten and stripped of his earnings, according to trial testimony.

Avalos told sheriff's investigators that the defendants hid him behind a rock and waited for nearly seven hours for other migrants to arrive to rob them.

The victim said the brothers ambushed a group of laborers on the edge of an avocado grove, demanding their money and personal belongings. According to the witness, he was shot as he attempted to flee the location.

The defendants opened fire on several other fleeing victims, but no one else was hit, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Based on witness statements, the brothers were arrested less than a week after the shootings.