Pair plead guilty to murder and kidnapping

On Wednesday April 13th, a Titus County Sheriff’s Office major crime investigation and subsequent prosecution, reached an important milestone.

Two defendants who were under indictment for the Aggravated Kidnapping and subsequent Murder of Ernest Lee Ibarra, on February 20th, of last year, pled guilty to both charges related to the death of Ibarra.

Johnathan Kyle Sanford, 25, and Jose Antonio Ponse, 27, each appeared before 276th District Judge Robert Rolston. Ponse appeared on Tuesday and Sanford appeared in court Wednesday morning. An agreement was reached between the two defense counsels and the prosecutor, District Attorney Chuck Bailey, and each were sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to each charge.

The two sentences for Ponse and Sanford will run concurrently and neither will be eligible for parole until they have served at least half of the 50-year sentence.

Accomplices Samantha Nicole Wohlford and Octavious Lamar Rhymes both remain in custody of the Titus County Jail and remain under indictment for Murder and Aggravated Kidnapping. Their cases are pending.

The charges alleged against the four co-conspirators were derived from their involvement in the night time abduction of Earnest Lee Ibarra from his residence in Titus County at which time, Ibarra was beaten and driven in to the extreme southeast corner of Camp County where he was killed and his body was later found by authorities.