LOS ANGELES, CA – A Port Hueneme man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for intentionally driving his Lexus into a group of teenage bicyclists in 2021, killing 16-year-old Pedro Valdez and injuring four other minors after prosecutors said he had committed another violent vehicle attack only minutes earlier.
Samuel Matthew Rocha, 33, entered the guilty plea Aug. 24, resolving the remaining charges in a case that had already produced six jury convictions earlier this year.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said Rocha admitted to second-degree murder in Valdez’s death and acknowledged that he used his car as a deadly weapon.
Rocha now faces a maximum sentence of 27 years to life in state prison.
He remains in custody without bail and is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 27.
The guilty plea closes the unresolved portion of a prosecution dating back more than five years and involving two separate violent incidents that unfolded within minutes of one another in Port Hueneme and nearby Oxnard.
“Rocha made the deliberate decision to use his vehicle as a weapon, killing 16-year-old Pedro Valdez and injuring four other young bicyclists,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Richard Simon said in announcing the plea.
“This conviction holds him accountable and brings a measure of justice to Pedro, his family, and the other victims.”
Violence began before cyclists were struck
According to prosecutors, Rocha’s violent conduct began on the evening of April 19, 2021.
Approximately 11 minutes before the fatal bicycle attack, Rocha was involved in a separate confrontation at a laundromat.
Authorities said he battered a man and a woman at the business.
Rocha then deliberately struck an employee with his Lexus in the parking lot, prosecutors said.
That incident was captured by surveillance cameras.
The conduct at the laundromat later formed the basis for several of the charges a Ventura County jury considered during Rocha’s trial.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office originally charged Rocha in April 2021 with murder, four counts of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of battery. Prosecutors also alleged that he personally used his vehicle as a deadly weapon and inflicted great bodily injury.
Those allegations reflected both the laundromat attack and what happened minutes later.
Seven teenagers were riding near Pleasant Valley and Ventura roads
After leaving the laundromat area, Rocha drove to the intersection of Pleasant Valley Road and Ventura Road in Port Hueneme.
A group of seven teenagers was riding bicycles in the area.
Prosecutors said Rocha deliberately targeted the cyclists with his Lexus.
Five of the seven teenagers were struck.
Pedro Valdez, 16, was killed.
Four other minors were injured, including two who suffered serious injuries.
The District Attorney’s Office has consistently characterized the episode as an intentional vehicle attack rather than an accidental traffic collision.
That distinction became central to the murder prosecution.
Rocha’s eventual guilty plea confirms that he accepted criminal responsibility for second-degree murder and admitted using the vehicle as a deadly weapon.
Authorities have not publicly disclosed a motive explaining why Rocha targeted the teenagers.
There has also been no official indication that he knew Valdez or the other riders before the attack.
Witness followed the Lexus after fatal collision
After striking the cyclists, Rocha fled.
A witness followed his Lexus and tracked it to an apartment complex associated with Rocha’s mother.
That information helped responding officers locate him.
Port Hueneme police subsequently took Rocha into custody.
Ventura County’s official public-safety directory confirms that Port Hueneme maintains its own municipal police department rather than receiving contracted law-enforcement services from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.
The case was then turned over for prosecution by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.
Three days after the attack, prosecutors announced the initial murder and attempted-murder charges against Rocha.
Jury convicted Rocha on six counts in April
The case eventually reached trial in 2026.
In April, a Ventura County jury convicted Rocha of four counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of battery.
Jurors also found true a special allegation that Rocha caused great bodily injury while committing a felony.
The jury did not reach unanimous verdicts on the remaining charges, including the murder count arising from Valdez’s death.
That left a significant portion of the prosecution unresolved.
Rather than proceeding through another full trial on the deadlocked charges, Rocha ultimately entered the second-degree murder plea four months later.
The District Attorney’s Office announced the plea Aug. 26, two days after it was entered.
The plea means prosecutors will not have to retry the murder count before a second jury.
Second-degree murder plea reflects intentional conduct
A second-degree murder conviction in California generally involves an unlawful killing with malice that does not meet the statutory requirements for first-degree murder.
In Rocha’s case, prosecutors have emphasized his intentional use of the Lexus as a weapon.
The case is therefore substantially different from a conventional fatal traffic collision involving negligence or ordinary reckless driving.
The prosecution’s theory was that Rocha made a conscious decision to turn a vehicle into a deadly weapon.
That conclusion is reflected both in the April jury findings on the assault counts and in Rocha’s later admission accompanying the murder plea.
The District Attorney’s Office said he specifically admitted using his car as a deadly weapon when pleading guilty.
No motive has been publicly established
One of the most significant unanswered questions remains why the attacks happened.
Authorities have not disclosed a motive for either the laundromat confrontation or the attack on the teenage bicyclists.
There is no public indication that Rocha had a prior relationship with Valdez.
Likewise, prosecutors have not announced evidence showing that Rocha knew any of the other teenagers.
That leaves the sequence of violence clear while the reason behind it remains unresolved.
The District Attorney’s Office has focused its public statements on Rocha’s deliberate conduct and the harm inflicted on the victims rather than attempting to assign a motive that has not been established.
Pedro Valdez was 16
Valdez was only 16 years old when he was killed.
The District Attorney’s Office has not released extensive personal details about him in its most recent announcement, but prosecutors have repeatedly centered the case on the impact of his death and the injuries suffered by the other young riders.
Four teenagers survived after being struck.
Two suffered serious injuries.
The surviving victims were also part of the charges considered during the April trial.
The eventual guilty plea does not erase those separate assault convictions.
Instead, the murder conviction now sits alongside the four assault-with-a-deadly-weapon convictions, two battery convictions and the great-bodily-injury finding already returned by the jury.
Prosecutors handled case for more than five years
Senior Deputy District Attorneys Richard Simon and Craig Gardner prosecuted the case.
The prosecution began shortly after the April 2021 attacks and continued through pretrial proceedings, trial, the partial jury verdict and the eventual guilty plea.
The original case involved one murder charge and four attempted murder counts relating to the bicyclists, along with separate charges arising from the laundromat confrontation.
The procedural history became more complicated when jurors agreed on some charges but deadlocked on others.
A deadlocked jury does not amount to an acquittal on unresolved counts.
Prosecutors may seek another trial unless the case is otherwise resolved.
Rocha’s Aug. 24 plea resolved that remaining uncertainty.
Sentencing scheduled for October
Rocha is scheduled to return to court Oct. 27 for sentencing.
He faces a maximum punishment of 27 years to life in state prison, according to prosecutors.
He remains jailed without bail pending that hearing.
The eventual sentence will account for the second-degree murder conviction as well as the other offenses for which Rocha was already convicted.
The District Attorney’s Office has not said whether prosecutors will ask the court to impose the maximum available term.
Sentencing proceedings may also include statements from Valdez’s relatives and other victims concerning the impact of the crimes.
Vehicles can be treated as deadly weapons
The Rocha prosecution is also an example of how California criminal law can treat an ordinary vehicle as a deadly weapon depending on how it is deliberately used.
A car is not inherently classified the same way as a firearm or knife in every circumstance.
But when prosecutors prove that a driver intentionally uses a vehicle in a manner capable of causing death or great bodily injury, it can support assault-with-a-deadly-weapon allegations and, when a person is killed, homicide charges.
In Rocha’s case, prosecutors alleged that the same Lexus was used deliberately against people twice within roughly 11 minutes.
The first incident involved an employee in a laundromat parking lot.
The second involved the teenage bicyclists.
Those circumstances helped distinguish the case from an accidental collision.
Case began with broad attempted-murder allegations
When Rocha was first charged in April 2021, the District Attorney’s Office accused him of one count of murder and four counts of attempted murder in connection with the bicyclists.
The complaint separately included the laundromat assault and battery charges.
Five special allegations asserted that Rocha personally used his vehicle as a deadly weapon.
Two additional allegations accused him of personally inflicting great bodily injury.
The prosecution evolved over the following years as evidence was presented, motions were litigated and the case eventually reached a jury.
The April 2026 trial did not resolve every allegation, but it did produce felony convictions for the assaults and batteries.
The second-degree murder plea then resolved the most consequential remaining charge.
No additional public threat
Rocha has remained in custody, and authorities have not identified any ongoing threat connected with the case.
The prosecution concerns conduct from April 2021 rather than a recent attack.
The latest development is the guilty plea and upcoming sentencing.
Ventura County officials have not announced any related investigation involving additional suspects.
The case has consistently identified Rocha as the person who used the Lexus in both incidents.
A measure of closure after five years
For Valdez’s family and the surviving teenagers, the plea represents the first final murder conviction in a case that began when they were still adolescents.
The underlying facts were established years ago, but the criminal process continued through 2026 because of the seriousness and number of charges.
The April trial resolved six counts.
The murder plea resolved what remained.
Prosecutors have not suggested that the plea changes the facts surrounding the other victims.
Four teenage cyclists were injured in the attack, and another person had been struck with Rocha’s vehicle at the laundromat shortly beforehand.
The District Attorney’s Office has framed the ultimate outcome as accountability for the entire sequence of intentional violence.
Rocha will remain in custody until his Oct. 27 sentencing hearing.
At that point, a Ventura County judge will determine the final prison term.
Until then, the maximum exposure identified by prosecutors remains 27 years to life in state prison.
