Two sentenced in Pittsburg gang homicide where victim’s body was dumped in remote area of Salinas

MARTINEZ — Two Harmony males accepted plea offers in a 2020 Pittsburg murder the place the sufferer’s physique was found in a distant part of Salinas, courtroom data present.

Shane Loudon, 21, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and obtained 15 years in state jail. His co-defendant, Steven Falkenstine, 24, pleaded no contest to theft and obtained a five-year jail time period. In return, prosecutors dropped homicide and gang enhancement expenses towards each males, data present.

Loudon and Falkenstine have been arrested in June 2021 in reference to the taking pictures dying of 19-year-old Malik Pittman. It’s believed that Pittman was shot and killed whereas sitting in a sedan with the 2 suspects on the 400 block of East Santa Fe Avenue in Pittsburg on Dec. 30, 2020. His physique was discovered the subsequent day in Salinas.

Police alleged that Loudon and Falkenstine organized to fulfill with Pittman in what was meant to be a preplanned theft, and that Loudon shot Pittman within the chest throughout an altercation contained in the automobile. After the shot was fired, the automotive sped away from the world with Pittman nonetheless inside.

The plea deal was finalized final October, however has not been beforehand reported. Each Loudon and Falkenstine are incarcerated at North Kern State Jail in Delano, and are eligible for parole in 2031 and 2025 respectively, data present.