SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man who gunned down a Sandpoint man in an act of vengeance last year was ordered Tuesday to serve 15 years in prison.

Fabian F.C. Rebeterano will have to serve at least five years of the term before he is eligible for release onto parole, according to the terms of a sentence adopted by 1st District Judge Barbara Buchanan.

Rebetarno, 40, shot Blas Salvadore Alonzo “Duke” Dias in the chest at the threshold of Dias’ apartment at the Meandering Moose on Aug. 6, 2018. A grand jury indicted Rebeterano on a charge of first-degree murder, although the offense was stepped down to the second degree following criminal mediation with a senior district court judge. In exchange for a plea to the murder charge, a charge of unlawful weapon possession was dismissed.

Rebeterano became a suspect in the killing after Dias allegedly battered Rebeterano’s daughter on an earlier occasion at the Meandering Moose. Dias was awaiting trial on misdemeanor charges at the time he was shot.

It emerged at Rebeterano’s sentencing hearing that Dias, 34, was allegedly involved in an abusive and illicit sexual relationship with Rebeterano’s underage daughter at the time of the killing.

Ted Pulver, a private investigator for the defense, said the relationship began in 2017 when the girl was 14 and living in Ogden, Utah. Dias allegedly provided the teen with drugs and alcohol and their relationship was marked by escalating physical abuse.

“Unfortunately, this situation was going to lead to a death,” Pulver testified.

Rebeterano’s mother, Linda Blamey, said her granddaughter relocated to Idaho to escape Dias, but he later arrived in the Panhandle and held himself out to be Michael Crespin, 19.

Despite being exposed as a man in his 30s and various appeals to end the relationship, Dias allegedly declined to stop pursuing the teen.

“He just wouldn’t leave,” Blamey testified. “I don’t understand why he would even come here.”

Bad blood between the two families ensued and continues to course over social media, according to the Dias family.

“I know my son was no angel. I know this. But this doesn’t justify murder,” Dias’ father, Daniel Crespin told the court.

Dias’ sister, Vanessa, said her brother’s killing was needless and devastating for his two minor children.

“It sickens me know that you could be out on the streets in five years,” she said.

Vanessa Dias, however, said she did not hate Rebetereno and hoped he could make something of his life upon his release.

Dias’ other sister, Cassandra Crespin, was less forgiving.

“I want him to get the maximum sentence and I don’t forgive him,” Cassandra Crespin said.

Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall does not believe Rebeterano was planning to kill Dias when he confronted him at the apartment, where Dias was eating pizza and playing video games with a buddy.

“That’s just not right. We don’t have vigilante justice and that’s why,” said Marshall.

Rebeterano’s counsel, Coeur d’Alene attorney Joseph Sullivan, said his client entered into a plea agreement so his daughter and family would not have to endure the rigors of a trial.

“He took responsibility for what happened,” Sullivan emphasized.

Rebeterano turned and apologized to Dias’ son and daughter, who sat in the courtroom gallery.

“I know that what I did was wrong and I didn’t mean for that,” Rebeterano said.

Buchanan agreed to bind herself to the plea agreement in the case, finding that Dias had an unhealthy obsession with Rebeterano’s daughter and understood Rebeterano was protecting her.

“But it doesn’t justify Mr. Dias’ death,” said Buchanan.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.