RIALTO - Last we saw Robert Echeverria, he was flaunting the free feast from his now-ubiquitously viewed YouTube video, "How To Scam Del Taco."
That was before the arrest, the conviction and the jail time.
But back in Rialto as a free man Monday, the man who openly broadcast what prosecutors called a gift-wrapped confession to a crime was still smiling through slivers of contrition.
Echeverria, who turned 33 behind bars last week, joked about taking his business to Taco Bell and reflected on the spontaneous "documentary filmmaking" that gave him $15 worth of free tacos and quesadillas and misdemeanor probation for the next three years.
"I did it because it was something to do. I have no other explanation for it," the 33-year-old Echeverria said from a cousin's apartment. "Now, I guess I hit a nerve somewhere."
The seven-minute video featured Echeverria parked outside a Rialto Del Taco pretending to be a CEO whose order was botched without a receipt. In being viewed nearly 100,000 times on YouTube over the past week, it has been called many things.
Funny, pathetic and "good old fashioned grifting" were just a few descriptions thrown around the Internet as the story made headlines on bizarre crime blogs and on reports as far as India.
Add one more description, from the director himself:
"I did something stupid," Echeverria said. "But for the record, I don't regret it."
Shot on Feb. 19, the video was discovered by police two weeks later at the same time they saw Echeverria cursing the Police Department in a separate video he posted under the name "Mr. Califero."
The aspiring rapper and poet -- whose stage name reflects his love for California -- said he believes that Rialto police were motivated by the other video, which police spokesmen deny.
The Rialto police "don't mess around," Echeverria said. "Don't slander the police."
Since Echeverria and two 18-year-old friends outlined their phony order, named the Del Taco they were targeting, and filmed an employee handing over the bag of food inside the store, authorities said they had everything they needed to prove felony commercial burglary.
The 6-foot-5, 500-pound star of the video was arrested on March 8, held with a $125,000 bail and charged with committing the crime to benefit a street gang. Rialto police have identified him as a Los Angeles-based gang member by the moniker of "Tinee."
But while bald-headed, goatee-clad Echeverria uses that nickname and sports 27 tattoos -- including a set of red lips below the back of his ear -- he said he hasn't run with a gang since his teens.
He said he's a stay-at-home father to his two young children and his fiancée's two teenagers, but alternately touted a lifetime as an "accomplished womanizer." Although he dropped out of school in the 7th grade, Echeverria said he plans to complete his education. He also spent several minutes talking about the state of race relations in America.
"I am a real person," he said. "I'm not just a 500-pound fat guy who went to Del Taco to get some free food."
After accepting a plea deal last week that included an order to stay out of the Rialto Del Taco, Echeverria said he is intent on staying out of jail. He also predicted he won't be Rialto police's favorite person.
"What he has to say is irrelevant at this point," said Rialto police Lt. Joe Cirilo. "The fact of the matter is he committed a crime and we used the evidence against him. If he wants to continue to post crimes on YouTube, we'll use them as evidence again."
Del Taco spokeswoman Barbara Caruso declined to comment Monday.
Echeverria made sure to point out that he ate at the restaurant, three blocks from his home, "every other day," and preferred the chicken soft tacos.
Echeverria spoke from inside cousin Angel Godinez's apartment, where a party was planned to celebrate his release from jail late Sunday.
"It'll be a big ol' Del Taco party," Godinez joked, beginning to recite the exact order Echeverria concocted in the video: seven tacos, two quesadillas with extra chicken, two large orders of French fries and two sodas.
"And we'll be sure to get a receipt," Godinez said.
