Defsounds

A 21-year-old California man was sentenced to 109 years to life last Monday in connection with the killing of a San Bernardino aspiring hip-hop artist whose body was found dumped in a ditch.

Dudzai Prosper Pswatai was found guilty of murder, kidnapping and robbery charges on August 20 associated with the June 2008 killing of Robert "Self" Mastrangelo, 24. The jury also found that three special allegations that a firearm was used to be true.

Pswatai’s two codefendants in the case both reached plea agreements with the district attorney’s office. Jeffrey “Slutter” Berrouet, 23, pleaded guilty to murder and accepted 25-years to life in February. Berrouet, who was on the run for eight months before being arrested, was formally sentenced Monday alongside Pswatai. Celina Sanchez, 21, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and received four years in prison February.

The victim was found June 14, 2008 in a drainage ditch just off Interstate 15 in Barstow. Bound at the ankles and clothed only in his underwear, he had been shot numerous times in the head and chest.

Three days prior, he met Jeffrey "Slutter" Berrouet at a Redlands fast food restaurant. Berrouet, a 23-year-old Riverside gang member, lured the victim with an ecstasy deal, police have said.

After seeing Mastrangelo with a large amount of cash, Pswatai had plotted to kidnap and rob him in the fashion of "Alpha Dog," witnesses testified. In that 2006 film starting Justin Timberlake, drug dealers looking to settle a debt hold a teen hostage for several days before killing him in a remote area.

Mastrangelo was beaten and tortured over the course of two days while inside the Pedley garage of Celina Sanchez, Berrouet's ex-girlfriend who later pleaded guilty to kidnapping and use of a deadly weapon.