A Norristown man was convicted of murder for luring and killing a man under a bridge in 2022

It took a Montgomery County jury just 33 minutes Thursday to convict a Norristown man of murder for plotting with his girlfriend to lead another man to his death under a bridge, where they killed and robbed him.

Erick Galo-Ponce, 21, was found guilty of second- and third-degree murder, as well as robbery and conspiracy charges, in the December 2022 killing of Nilson Velazquez-Cardona under the Stony Creek Bridge.

Prosecutors, led by Assistant District Attorney Meghan Carney, presented evidence during the three-day trial before Montgomery County Court Judge William Carpenter that Galo-Ponce’s girlfriend, Ana Yuvitza Gonzalez-Munguia, had contacted Velazquez-Cardona through Facebook, asking for his help.

“Ana found Nilson. She set him up, and Erick knocked him down,” Carney said during her closing arguments Thursday. “They came together, they robbed together, and they fled together.”

Gonzalez-Munguia, 21, testified that she told Velazquez-Cardona that she and her boyfriend were experiencing homelessness, and had initially asked him for money. The couple, both from Guatemala, had recently been evicted from an apartment they rented in Norristown after failing to pay their rent, investigators said.

After being wired some cash by Velazquez-Cardona, Gonzalez-Munguia asked him to come help her find a more permanent place to live.

Velazquez-Cardona drove more than two hours from his home in Woodhaven, N.Y. to Norristown, Carney said, where Gonzalez-Munguia led him to a campsite under the Stony Creek Bridge. There, Ponce was waiting, and struck the victim from behind with a metal pipe, then continued beating him as he lay unresponsive on the ground. The two then rifled through his pockets, Carney said, stealing his car keys and wallet.

For her role in the fatal robbery, Gonzalez-Munguia pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in September. She will be sentenced to 22½ to 45 years in prison in exchange for her testimony, as part of a negotiated plea with prosecutors.

“I don’t expect you to like Ana; I don’t,” Carney said. “She’s an admitted robber and murderer. I didn’t select her, but you know who did? [Galo-Ponce] did. He selected her to be his partner.”

After killing Velazquez-Cardona, the couple stole his car and used his credit card to fill it with gas before driving to Texas. Along the way, they used the stolen card to rent hotel rooms and order meals from DoorDash, according to testimony during the trial.

In the meantime, Velazquez-Cardona’s relatives were searching for him and filed a missing-person’s report with police in New York City. Eventually, using cellphone data, county detectives and U.S. Marshals tracked them to Texas, and arrested them in January.

Galo-Ponce’s lawyer, James Lyons, urged jurors Thursday not to trust Gonzalez-Munguia, calling her a “polluted source” that the prosecution had relied on to build its entire case.

“She killed this guy, not [Galo-Ponce]. She’s throwing him under the bus to save herself,” Lyons said. “You’re expected to put this kid away based only on her word. The commonwealth has nothing else.”

Lyons said Gonzalez-Munguia’s credibility was ruined by the conflicting statements she gave to police after her arrest, and in the ways she contradicted herself while being cross-examined during the trial.

He argued that the physical evidence presented by prosecutors showed Galo-Ponce was guilty only of theft — for stealing the victim’s car. Lyons contended that Gonzalez-Munguia was the true mastermind, and that Galo-Ponce had no idea what she planned to do that night under the bridge.

“Her story is nonsense. That’s not how this happened,” Lyons said. “She’s simply not telling you the truth.”

But Carney sharply rebuked Lyons’ interpretation. She referenced surveillance footage that showed the couple walking near the bridge both before and after the murder and traveling together in the victim’s car. Text messages between them, she said, showed Gonzalez-Munguia providing Galo-Ponce with a “play-by-play” as she led Velazquez-Cardona to the campsite, telling her accomplice to prepare for the planned attack.

“The defense wants you believe Ana is my whole case,” Carney said. “No, Ana is the exclamation point on the end of the sentence ‘Erick Ponce is guilty.’ Her words corroborate all of the other evidence.”

Galo-Ponce and Gonzalez-Munguia will be sentenced by Carpenter in the coming weeks.