Riverside Police Department (RPD) Detectives served an arrest warrant on 47 year-old Samuel Pasillas for his alleged involvement in a murder-for-hire plot against a man who is romantically involved with his daughter, in October 2023. According to a departmental press release, Pasillas allegedly paid a group of several men $40,000 to track and kill the victim, and furnished them with the victim’s probable location.
The victim, who has not been publicly named at this time, was driving in the Orangecrest neighborhood around 7 o’clock in the evening, when another car pulled up beside him and opened fire, according to the RPD. Despite sustaining multiple wounds, the victim managed to drive himself safely to a hospital, where he received treatment for his injuries. He is expected to survive.
Based on the victim’s statements, the police were able to locate spent shell casings left by the incident. The case was then assigned to the Robbery-Homicide unit, who, upon investigation, discovered the alleged murder-for-hire plot and uncovered the romantic link between the victim and Pasillas’s daughter. Pasillas is the pastor of a church in Victorville, California, that caters to Spanish-speaking parishioners. The RPD uncovered evidence that led them to believe that Pasillas met with men whom he paid to watch and follow the victim in the weeks leading up to the shooting.
Turning Point Church’s Pastor Ron Folkner, which sometimes rents facilities for the church where Pasillas servees as a pastor, said to KTLA news, denied any knowledge of Pasillas or his activities.
Following his arrest, Pasillas was booked and taken to the Robert Presley Detention Center. He is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, solicitation for murder, and assault with a deadly weapon. He is currently in custody. Another alleged member of the plot, 55 year-old Juan Manuel Cerebros of Long Beach, was also arrested and booked into the same facility. Both men are being held on $1 million bail.
