Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced today that Sharbel Touma, 22, of Oxnard, was sentenced by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Dusty Kawai to three years and four months in state prison for a high-speed crash that killed two people.
Touma had previously pleaded guilty on March 16, 2026, to two felony counts of vehicular manslaughter for driving at 108 miles per hour in a collision that claimed the lives of Samuel Castro and Annette Gomez. Prosecutors had objected to the court's sentence and urged a prison term of five years and four months.
On February 12, 2023, at approximately 12:06 a.m., Castro was driving westbound on West Fifth Street in Oxnard with Gomez as his passenger. Castro attempted a U-turn from the number 2 lane, crossing into the number 1 lane, when his vehicle was struck broadside by Touma's vehicle, which was also traveling westbound in the number 1 lane.
Event Data Recorder (EDR) information from Touma's vehicle established that he was traveling 108.73 miles per hour one second before impact. The collision was captured on surveillance video.
Both Castro and Gomez died as a result of the crash.
“Based on the defendant’s extreme speed, the preventable nature of this tragedy, and the fact that two lives were lost, we respectfully asked the court to impose five years, four months in state prison,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Paul Nuñez. Deputy District Attorney George Brietigam, a member of the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Serious-Violent Felonies Unit, prosecuted the case.
Touma was remanded into custody following sentencing. In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered that Touma be prohibited from driving for the entire duration of his parole.