*NEWS RELEASE*

TWO RIVERSIDE GANG MEMBERS CONVICTED IN 2006 EXECUTION MURDER OF MAN AND HIS SISTER

RIVERSIDE - Two members of a violent Riverside criminal street gang have been convicted of the 2006 murders of a man and his sister in the parking lot of a grocery store.

Ralph Jaime Rojas, 22; and Daniel Anthony Ruvalcaba, 24, were found guilty on Tuesday, July 29, 2009, of the murders of Michael Benge and his sister, Denaya Shanks. Each defendant faces a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole when they return to court on Sept. 4. 2009.

"This was a cold-blooded execution of two innocent young people near a busy grocery store," said Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco. "This was a very difficult gang case and this incredible verdict by the jury speaks volumes to the professionalism of our prosecutor and the investigation done by the Riverside Police Department."

On Dec. 8, 2006, both victims were shot in the head at close range as they were walking in a grocery store parking lot in Riverside. The murders were gang-related and both defendants are members and/or associates of the violent Casa Blanca Rifa criminal street gang. Benge was targeted because of an earlier dispute with the defendants.

A third person, Vincent Andrew Solorio, 20, of Riverside, was convicted by a Riverside County jury last month of both murders as well as the gang enhancement. Solorio is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 14, 2009, and also faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Benge and all three defendants in the case had been hanging out at Benge's house. They all walked to a nearby Stater Bros. where Shanks also met them. After leaving the store, all five of them were walking back to Benge's home when two shots rang out.

The case, RIF136340, was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney William Robinson.

"A great tragedy in this case is that Benge's sister had to watch her brother die and then was murdered simply because she was a witness," Robinson said.