RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia teenager accused of bludgeoning his neighbor with a claw hammer and then scrawling gang graffiti in the victim's home has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports Rafael Angel Vargas was sentenced on Tuesday for what the judge called a crime of extreme brutality.
Vargas was accused of killing 87-year-old Bryan H. Walker, considered one of Chesterfield County’s leading advocates for historic preservation, in April 2019.
Prosecutors say after the killing, Vargas returned to Walker’s home to make it appear he was killed during a robbery by an MS-13 gang member.
