A man who pleaded guilty to running a methamphetamine lab that exploded and killed three small children has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, officials said.
A Gwinnett County judge handed down Mariano Sandoval’s sentence Friday after he pleaded guilty, Chief Assistant District Attorney Lisa Jones said in a news release.
Sandoval, 34, is the third and final person sentenced in connection with the fatal fire that broke out at the home on Spring Mill Drive in Lilburn on Feb. 17, 2011.
Police previously said toxic and highly volatile chemicals were in the home when something sparked a fire.
RELATED: Crews raze Gwinnett meth house where 3 children died
Isaac Guevara, 4, Ivan Guevara, 3, and Stacy Brito, 18 months, were upstairs when the flames started. Bystanders rescued the children from a second-story bedroom but they died shortly after being hospitalized.
Sandoval ran away from the home after the explosion and pretended he was going to get a ladder to try to rescue the children, Jones said.
The children’s mother, Neibi Brito, and another man, Joseph Perez, were both inside the house when it caught on fire, prosecutors said.
MORE: Meth mom sentenced to 30 years for three children's deaths
Initially, based on “threats of harm and as the result of fear,” they told investigators that another man, Ivan Gonzales, was the person who fled from the home, Jones said. Gonzales was charged in the incident, but was ultimately exonerated in 2016 after investigators found there was no way he could have been at the home at the time.
Further investigation revealed Sandoval was involved in a relationship with Brito and lived in the Lilburn home, Jones said.
A grand jury indicted him on charges of felony murder, meth trafficking and meth manufacturing in March of last year, and he was extradited to Georgia from California for a trial.
RELATED: 8 years after meth explosion killed 3 Gwinnett kids, new suspect arrested
Brito and Perez both pleaded guilty in 2013 and were sentenced to 30 years for voluntary manslaughter, drug trafficking, manufacturing meth and having children present during the manufacturing of meth, AJC.com previously reported.
In addition to 30 years behind bars, the judge ordered Sandoval to serve 20 years on probation. He also was fined $1.3 million for meth trafficking.
In other news:
About the Author
