Slain restaurateur sold pills for bills

MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. (WOOD) - A former restaurant owner killed in his own home on Friday was convicted two years ago of selling illegal pills from that home, and police were trying to determine if a link to drugs may have led to his death.

Alvaro Loera, the former owner of the Flamingo restaurants, was 70 in March 2010 when WEMET drug officers raided his home on Waalkes Street in Muskegon Heights, court records show. The raid followed an undercover purchase of drugs, records show.

It was the same home where he was found beaten and stabbed to death on Friday.

During the 2010 raid, agents found nearly 1,200 pills, a pistol and more than $1,300 in cash.

Loera, who already was on oxygen, told police he sold the pills -- including methadone , Vicodin and Ritalin -- so he could "pay the bills." He said he no longer owned the restaurant and got no money from it.

He told police he bought the pills for $3 each, then sold them for $4 each and that he sometimes "trades pills for other pills."

But, he told them, he didn't sell the Fentanyl patches -- a patch that dispenses an opiate pain reliever -- that police found. "He's in too much pain to get rid of those," he told police.

Loera pleaded no contest to delivery of methadone , possession of hydrocodone and a weapons charge. He got 18 months probation and jail time. Records show he was discharged early from probation.

Leora was also convicted of a weapons charge in 1990.

His daughter and granddaughter discovered his body on Friday, face down in front of his kitchen sink.

On Monday, his family was making funeral arrangements. Relatives told 24 Hour News 8 he suffered from lung disease and had been in the hospital with pneumonia a week before the slaying.

"The last time he was in the hospital, we were told that the next time might be the last," his brother, Roberto Loera, said. "That's how ill he was. They were talking about life support and this kind of thing."

His family believes Loera knew the killer. He kept his doors locked and used a "buzzer" to let guests in through the back door, they said.

"I don't think it was an enemy," his brother said. "No, I just think it was somebody who took something a little too far and had to complete the job and take off with what he had in hand."

"There's a lot of anger here, a lot of frustration, a lot of confusion. I know over time it will pass, but right now it's awfully difficult to think about what had happened in this house."