Man Sentenced for Killing 3-Year-Old Girl at L.A. Garment Factory

An undocumented worker from Guatemala was sentenced today to 37 years to life in state prison for fatally stabbing a three-year-old girl at a clothing factory in downtown Los Angeles three years ago, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.

Last month, Ricardo Augusto Utuy aka Juan Perez (date of birth: June 7, 1982) was found guilty of one count each of first-degree murder and attempted murder. A jury also found true special allegations that Utuy personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon — a knife — and personally inflicted great bodily injury.

Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta of the Family Violence Division prosecuted the case.

On March 10, 2016, Utuy attacked a woman at a factory in downtown Los Angeles. The defendant stabbed the woman before fleeing the scene, according to witness testimony. The victim survived the attack.

Utuy found work at another factory, in the 800 block of McGarry Street, the prosecutor said. A couple who worked at that factory brought their three-year-old daughter, Ruby Vasquez, to work with them on Halloween — Oct. 31, 2016.

When the girl went to give her father a cookie, the mother saw Utuy running toward the child. The defendant then stabbed the girl multiple times with a knife. She was taken to a hospital where she died.

Case BA451497 was investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department.

As an illegal alien, Utuy also went by other aliases aside from Juan Perez, such as Ricardo Renoj.