| For Immediate Release August 9, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
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PAROLE DENIED FOR DRUG DEALER CONVICTED OF 1990 STABBING-MURDER OF PRO TENNIS ATHLETE OVER $20 DEBT
SANTA ANA – The Board of Parole Hearings, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations (Board) denied the parole today of a drug dealer convicted of the stabbing-murder of a former college athlete-turned-tennis pro over a $20 drug debt. Ehriberto Arcelara, 47, is currently being held at Calipatria State Prison in Calipatria, CA. Arcelara was sentenced April 18, 1991, to 16 years to life in state prison for one felony count of murder and a sentencing enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon. This case was originally prosecuted by former Deputy District Attorney Richard King. Arcelara will be eligible for his next parole hearing in 2021.
Deputy District Attorney Renee Jones attended the hearing to oppose Arcelara’s parole. The Board denied Arcelara’s parole based on his lack of remorse and insight into his crime, failure to acknowledge his many prison rules violations, and his destructive and violent behavior while incarcerated.
Stabbing-Murder of Stephen Aniston
Between 1985 and 1990, Arcelara was arrested under 21 different aliases for property crimes and multiple narcotics-related offenses and narcotics sales.
Stephen Aniston received an athletic scholarship from University of California, Irvine, but started using cocaine and subsequently lost his scholarship. Aniston began playing in the pro-circuit, going on to play at Wimbledon, and was ranked among the world’s top 200 tennis players by the United States Tennis Association.
At approximately 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 21, 1990, 26-year-old drug dealer Arcelara sold $20 worth of cocaine to 27-year-old Aniston. A dispute broke out during the transaction and Arcelara stabbed Aniston. The victim managed to get away from Arcelara and escaped in his car. Huntington Beach Police Department (HBPD) officers saw the victim’s car drifting across Yorktown Avenue east of Beach Boulevard. Suspecting it might be a drunken driver, the officers were about to pull him over when the victim’s car crossed the center divider and crashed into the center embankment. When the HBPD officers reached the vehicle, they found Aniston severely injured from his stab wounds. He died at the scene before paramedics arrived.
It was determined during the murder investigation that Arcelara had bragged to three other drug dealers that he had stabbed the victim “where it hurts.” Just two weeks prior to the murder, Arcelara had threatened another person with a knife.