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Patricio Arce, better known in Peruvian football as 'Pato' Arce, was sentenced last Thursday by the Judicial Power. The former football player, who wore the colors of teams like César Vallejo, Melgar, and Sporting Cristal, will have to serve a 22-year prison sentence along with a civil reparation of 50,000 soles, for the murder of Piero Javier Robles Gervasi in August 2021.
On Friday, March 18, 2022, the former midfielder was removed from the El Paraíso hotel by police officers, after being linked to a criminal gang known as 'Los Batturis de la Perla Baja', which was in charge of collecting fees in construction and sanitation projects in Callao.
Hours after that incident, César Vallejo, the last team he played for in the Liga 1, decided to remove him from their first team for the duration of the investigations. Today, months after that legal process, the Judicial Power has sentenced him to 22 years in prison and a civil reparation of 50,000 soles.
It is worth mentioning that this same sentence was also applied to Omar Armando Agurto Márquez (Pota) and Lender Lyr Torres Castro (Lender), who stated that they received orders from Patricio Arce to carry out the murder of Piero Robles. The three defendants were charged with the crime against life, by the Twelfth Provincial Corporate Criminal Prosecutor's Office of Callao.
Patricio Arce, identified as the mastermind
During the oral trial, the Public Prosecutor's Office presented the evidence to the Judicial Power, indicating that at around 4:30 pm on August 20, 2021, Augusto Márquez murdered Robles Gervasi. That same afternoon, Omar Agurto acted as if he were a passenger, raising his right hand to stop a public transport van, in which Piero Robles was the collector.
A second later, Agurto Márquez pulled out a firearm and attacked the victim. Then, he ran towards a scooter, which was driven by Lender Torres, fleeing the scene. According to witness testimonies, the murder was a retaliation for the attack that Patricio Arce suffered on the night of January 14, 2021, while watching a soccer match in the street. In that attack, a 16-year-old teenager died from gunshot wounds.
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