UNION CITY — Stephanie Ledon told authorities she never spoke to Karim Zepeda-Martinez, but his memory will likely stay in her mind forever because she watched him die.
On the early morning of April 9, 2022, Zepeda-Martinez was shot once outside a Union City home, then his killer stood over him and fired twice more, police said. A horrified Ledon sat behind the wheel, her role in the crime having just escalated from a methamphetamine deal “bamboozle” to the getaway driver in a potential murder, according to prosecutors.
“Words can never express how sorry I am. I did not intend for this to happen and did not know this was going to happen,” Ledon wrote in an apology letter read aloud at a court hearing. “I am so sorry and hope one day you will forgive me.”
Ledon had earlier recounted her story to police, as they were working to identify the roughly half-dozen underworld figures believed to be involved in Zepeda-Martinez’s homicide.
There was the state prisoner, Antony Marco Rodriguez, known as “Shadow,” who allegedly employed his own son, Antonio Rodriguez, as the principal in a plot to trick Zepeda-Martinez to hand over 20 pounds of meth for phony money, according to police testimony.
There was a local drug dealer named “Jaydine,” who was never charged but provided information to police that helped them connect the dots. Then there was Ledon herself, who allegedly agreed to acquire a stolen car that night and be the driver, in order to work off a debt her ex-boyfriend had incurred to a convicted murderer whose closest possible parole date looms two-and-a-half years away, authorities said.
Finally, there was Miranda King, Antonio Rodriguez’s girlfriend, who was not criminally inclined but rather “stupid” in agreeing to give Antonio Rodriguez a ride from the East Bay to their home in Chico, according to a judge who heard evidence at a recent preliminary hearing.
By the investigation’s end, the father-and-son duo and Ledon all faced murder and robbery charges, while King was charged with accessory. But now the entire case has been cast into doubt, with only the murder charge against Antonio Rodriguez making it past the low threshold for a preliminary hearing. The same judge who ordered Antonio Rodriguez to stand trial also found that there was insufficient evidence anyone involved had committed a robbery, or that Anthony Rodriguez or Ledon had committed murder, court records show.
Alameda County Judge Amy Sekany’s logic was simple: robberies generally require force or fear, but this was a methamphetamine swindle. The idea was to trick Zepeda-Martinez into accepting $100 bills that were marked “for motion picture purposes” and “not legal tender,” which makes it a grand theft by false pretenses, not robbery, Sekany found.
As to the murder, prosecutors were unable to overcome a hurdle; if Anthony Rodriguez was the “mastermind” of a murder plot, as the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office contends, and if Ledon knew there was a high likelihood Antonio Rodriguez would kill someone, why did the group spend hours traveling around the East Bay to obtain fake cash to hand someone they were always planning to shoot?
In her argument to Sekany, Deputy District Attorney Lori Mullins said that the evidence indicated Zepeda-Martinez realized he was being defrauded moments before he was killed.
“The victim then looks at the envelope. Realizes it’s fake money and confronts Antonio, who then goes back into the car, retrieves a gun and shoots him once while he’s standing and then shoots him twice while he’s on the ground,” Mullins said in court.
The plot to trick Zepeda-Martinez was hatched in prison, by 45-year-old Anthony Rodriguez, who is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, prosecutors said. A jury found him guilty of fatally shooting Samuel Williams in Alameda County in 2002 during an argument over a woman.
Once housed in Salinas Valley State Prison, Rodriguez allegedly acquired a cellphone and began communicating with his son. In text messages involving the defendants, police found talk of a “lick” — or robbery — that amounted to more than $30,000, as well as references to getting a gun from someone who owes a gang a favor, according to prosecutors. Defense attorneys countered that these slang terms can take on many meanings. For instance, perhaps the defendants were really talking about licking something with their tongues, the defense argued.
Ledon later told police that she agreed to participate in what she called a “bamboozle” plot to square a debt her ex-boyfriend had incurred to Anthony Rodriguez. That placed her in a stolen blue Audi with a man she knew as “Little Shadow” but who prosecutors contend was 27-year-old Antonio Rodriguez. The two allegedly drove around the East Bay before Ledon tracked down a friend whose child had participated in a play that used fake cash. The younger Rodriguez and Ledon borrowed the prop money, according to witness testimony.
They then drove to Eric Court near Alvarado-Niles Road in Union City, where Zepeda-Martinez — who had just allegedly gone down to Bakersfield to retrieve the meth — was waiting. During the deal an argument ensued and Ledon told police she watched as “Little Shadow” killed the man she never met. Rodriguez then allegedly told her to drive and they ended up in an Oakland hotel, where Rodriguez got a ride home from King, authorities said.
With most of the charges dismissed, Judge Sekany freed Ledon from jail, finding she had already served whatever sentence she would receive for grand theft. Antonio Rodriguez remains behind bars in Santa Rita Jail, along with his dad, who fell so ill during the preliminary hearing that Sekany expressed serious concern over his health. King remains out of custody and her accessory charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, court records show.
But while the murder case was dismissed as to Anthony Rodriguez and Ledon, prosecutors promptly re-filed the robbery charges against them. How long these will stick remains unclear. Sekany noted at the preliminary hearing that there was insufficient evidence of robbery “even under the very low standard of probable cause.”
