On the afternoon of Christmas day in 2015, the defendant, Johnny Oliva, told his family that he needed to go to the store to get some cigarettes. Instead, he made a few phone calls and lured the victim, David “Mouse” Bustamante, to the In-N-Out in Hesperia. The defendant claimed he was going to pay him some money back.
Victim Bustamante had no idea what was about to happen, stopped working on a tattoo for his client, and brought some of his mother’s tamales with him as a gift for the defendant. When victim Bustamante got out of his car with the tamales, defendant Oliva began shooting him with a revolver. He expended all 6 rounds into Bustamante’s chest. As victim Bustamante was being shot, one of the clients of the victim, who was in the victim’s car, heard the victim ask why the defendant was doing this. The defendant began yelling out, “La Eme!”, “That’s what’s up, La Eme!”as he shot. Defendant Oliva then returned back to his family gathering and ate dinner as if nothing had happened.
Detective Marc Goodwin of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department solved the case by using eyewitnesses, cell phone records, and video from In-N-Out cameras. An LASD SEB team arrested defendant Oliva in a felony car stop. GPS data from recovered phones, social media evidence, jail calls, and data from the defendant’s On-Star vehicle system all helped prove the defendant was guilty.
The key civilian witness’ identities were sealed until 10 days before trial began, and one attempt to kill a witness was thwarted during the pretrial phase. Gang Intelligence discovered that a kite with an order to kill the witness would be on the defendant’s person, on a particular day. However, when Sheriff personnel tried to obtain the kite, the defendant swallowed it.
Defendant Oliva was found guilty of 1st degree murder with the special circumstances of having done the killing to further the activities of a street gang and lying in wait. He was sentenced to life without parole.
The District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation ran constant security throughout the duration of the case which was vital in bringing justice for the victim, David “Mouse” Bustamante.