Two men plead guilty to third degree murder in 2021 beating death outside Pat’s Steaks; two still on the run

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Two men charged in the 2021 beating death of a soccer fan at Pat’s Steaks in South Philly have pleaded guilty in a negotiated deal with prosecutors.

Omar Arce, 35, and Jose Flores-Huerta, 36, apologized to the family of 28-year-old Isidro Cortes, whom they admitted to helping attack in the fall of 2021 outside the steak shop, after attending a soccer game at the Philadelphia Union’s Subaru Park.

Arce and Flores-Huerta pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault, and were sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months behind bars, but have been in prison since the incident and will be released. Both are undocumented immigrants.

Arce is expected to be deported back to Mexico, where his defense team says he knows no one and has no family.

Flores-Huerta also pleaded guilty to helping the escape of two men — Ameen Hurst and Nasir Grant — last spring from Philadelphia’s Industrial Correctional Facility. Authorities say he acted as a lookout while Hurst and Grant escaped. Both were eventually recaptured .

In addition to the apologies, prosecutors also played surveillance video of the fight outside the iconic steak shop. It started with a cordial conversation between Cortes and Arce, Flores–Huerta, and two other men identified as brothers Victor and Willie Pedraza.

The conversation turns violent when prosecutors said Victor Pedraza is seen throwing a punch at Cortes. The other three men then join in, punching, kicking and stomping on Cortes as he goes to the ground. Cortes’ father and a friend get involved and are injured in the melee. Moments later, Cortes is seen laying lifeless next to his dad who is trying to get his attention. He died later at the hospital from blunt force trauma to the head.

The Pedraza brothers are still on the run and are believed to be in either Philly or Mexico.

Anyone with information on their whereabouts are asked to call police.