A Washington man who confessed to raping an 18-year-old woman as she suffered a deadly drug overdose was sentenced to less than three years in prison on Thursday.
Per The Everett Daily Herald, Brian Varela, 20, will spend 34 months behind bars in connection with February’s death of Alyssa Noceda. Noceda overdosed after snorting crushed pills Varela, then 19, gave her and taking concentrated THC during a party at a mobile home near Martha Lake.
While Varela told police the pills were Percocet, testing revealed Noceda snorted a lethal combination of fentanyl and Xanax.
Not only did Varela rape her as she overdosed, but, instead of calling for help, he sent pictures of her mostly nude body to friends and mocked her as she lay dying, according to KOMO.
“‘LOL I think she od’d’,” he said in one text.
Charging papers The Herald obtained said Varela sexually assaulted Noceda her “to pass the time” and played an online game until he grew tired and fell asleep. He claimed he woke up to find Noceda’s cold body. Still not calling for help, he worked at Dairy Queen then returned home to stuff her body in a crate—where it stayed for several days.
Varela took numerous measures to conceal Noceda’s death. He used Noceda’s finger to unlock her iPhone and make a post on her SnapChat suggesting she had run away. He also washed her body to destroy evidence and told friends he planned to bury her before fleeing to Mexico, the newspaper reported.
A co-worker called police, leading officers to arrest the teen before he could dispose of Noceda’s body.
“I’m sorry for my foolish actions,” he said in court this week. “Whatever I get is what I deserve.”
Though Varela pleaded guilty to a slew of charges—second-degree manslaughter, third-degree rape, and unlawful disposal of human remains—The Herald reported he faced a maximum sentence of 34 months as he had no criminal record.
“It’s a joke,” the victim’s outraged mother told KOMO. “Usually people who do stuff like this don’t get away with a slap on the wrist.”
[Featured Image: Brian Varela, Alyssa Noceda/Facebook (2)]