Teen Pleads Guilty in Slaying of Immigrant

A Woodbridge teenager pleaded guilty to first-degree murder this week in a homicide that law enforcement officials say demonstrates the dangers Hispanic immigrants face in the county.

Georgino Napier, 18, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Circuit Court to the shooting death of Serafin "Pedro" Alvarez Negrete, who was killed in September yards away from the Woodbridge trailer park where he lived. Authorities said Napier, along with another teenager, Carlito McToy, 18, shot Negrete during a street robbery. McToy, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder this month.

Napier's attorney, C. Shawn Allen, reached by phone Tuesday, said he did not want to comment on the case.

Authorities said that the teenagers decided they were going to "get a Mexican" on that day, Sept. 10, and Negrete just happened to walk by alone. Negrete, 32, had come from Mexico a year earlier, leaving his wife and three children to work as a day laborer. He was walking up the driveway to the lot of faded trailers when he was shot seven times.

Napier and McToy each have told authorities that the other pulled the trigger, but both admit to participating in the crime, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney John B. Arledge said. A receipt they stole from Negrete, showing he had just sent money home, was found in the apartment the teenagers shared, Arledge said.

The two also took Negrete's cellphone and a calling card, leaving the few dollars he had in his pocket, authorities said.

Street robberies have been on the rise in the county, with Hispanic immigrants particularly vulnerable because they sometimes carry large amounts of cash, authorities said.

"The problem is that they make good victims, and they have been targeted because they are disinclined to report the robberies," Arledge said.

Even as the overall crime rate dropped in the county, street robberies, primarily of Hispanics, continue to increase, according to police statistics. In 2006, the number of robberies rose 40.4 percent from 2005, which was up from the previous year. Many are believed to go unreported.

Prince William Police Chief Charlie T. Deane created a robbery suppression initiative in September to address the increase, which he described as "a phenomenon" that the county hasn't seen before. As part of the initiative, a police task force concentrates on high-risk areas. Those officers have made hundreds of arrests, Deane said.

After the murder, plastic flowers and religious candles marked the spot where Negrete was found. A handwritten note read: "Peace be with you." In the tiny room where he lived at the back of his uncle's trailer, four folded dollar bills sat under his pillow, where he had left them.

In addition to first-degree murder, Napier and McToy pleaded guilty to use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, which carries a three-year sentence. The murder charge carries a sentence of 40 years to life in prison.

Napier is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 18, and McToy on Aug. 16.