Transient pleads no contest to killing AAA driver in Pico Rivera

PICO RIVERA -- A 41-year-old man pleaded no contest Tuesday to fatally stabbing a AAA driver as he was helping a customer.
 
At today's court appearance, Tobias Ruben Cabrera pleaded to one count of second-degree murder and admitted he was previously convicted of corporal injury with a firearm causing great bodily injury to a child's parent in 2001.
 
Cabrera is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 31. He faces at least 20 years to life in state prison.
 
Deputy District Attorney Amanda Luna of the Victim Impact Program, who prosecuted the case, said on June 2, 2015, victim Raymond Zabala, a AAA driver, drove to a Pico Rivera neighborhood to service a customer's car.
 
While working on the car, Cabrera, a transient, walked up to Zabala and asked what was going on before stabbing the victim with a knife, the prosecutor added.
 
Following the assault, Cabrera got on a bike and fled the area. Zabala went to a neighboring home to seek help, but ultimately succumbed to his injuries at the scene, according to the prosecutor.
 
Several days after the incident, Cabrera was located by law enforcement and charged in connection with the attack.