A former roommate of a murder suspect, who is accused of encasing a gay man inside a cement orb, has been charged with accessory to murder – despite his claim that he didn’t know he was helping carry a blanket-draped body within a heavy “rock sculpture” that was made into a rock garden in the backyard of an Alabama Street house in North Park.

Arlo Rene Elizarraraz, 19, plead not guilty last week to committing accessory after the fact of the murder of Edward Andrews, 80, who disappeared on June 1, 2008, and was later found entombed in cement.

Elizarraraz is also charged with four conspiracy counts with Thomas Jeffrey Brooks, 40, who is accused of strangling Andrews.

Brooks also plead not guilty Monday in San Diego Superior Court to additional charges that allege he committed a series of forgeries and two burglaries with Elizarraraz in 2008. A witness testified Monday that she saw Brooks in possession with a sophisticated phony check printing equipment system.

Andrews lived alone in a Hemet mobile home and met Brooks as a pen pal via Brooks’ personal ad while he was in prison for child abuse and obtaining property by false pretenses, according to court records.

Brooks was paroled in 2007 and developed a romantic relationship with Andrews, and he stayed with him occasionally.

Brooks is also charged with the special circumstance of murder for financial gain and he is accused of stealing $92,000 from the victim.

If convicted, he faces a life sentence in prison without parole.

Elizarraraz met Brooks after the 19-year-old said he was desperate for money and placed ads on CraigsList, saying he needed $400.

Brooks answered the ad and they met. According to the charges, Elizarraraz immediately began helping Brooks with check forgeries.

Brooks was arrested in August 2008, on a murder charge – even though Andrews’ body had not been found. Brooks had earlier helped fashion a rock garden in the backyard of a house in the 3400 block of Alabama Street, and one occupant there cracked open the orb on Sept. 5.

The occupant, who later said he cracked open the orb to see if Brooks left any money in it, discovered a foot and a foul smell, and called his two other roommates to come home to look at what he found.

They then called police.

Andrews had been bound with duct tape, with his knees folded to his chest, and covered with a purple blanket. The victim was wrapped in plastic and chicken wire and then covered with cement, according to an arrest warrant declaration.

A black leather belt was found tightly wrapped around the victim’s neck and he had duct tape and a plastic bag over his head. An autopsy determined that he died of asphyxia.

Elizarraraz insisted to police and the District Attorney’s office for months that he didn’t know he was helping Brooks carry a body to the rock garden. He submitted to a polygraph test on Dec. 1 in the District Attorney’s office, and was told he was deceitful in some of his answers.

Elizarraraz told new details, saying Brooks purchased a plastic container in which he later placed the rock sculpture, and he drove Brooks to the Alabama Street house. Elizarraraz said he helped load the container on a dolly into his car. He also told officers that he helped purchase the concrete, but he didn’t know what it was for, according to court records.

Elizarraraz also said he remembered driving Brooks to Hemet, but he didn’t know who he was seeing there.

After his arrest, Brooks repeatedly told officers that Elizarraraz had nothing to do with the homicide, and he wished they would “let Arlo go.” Brooks admitted that he killed Andrews, but did not want to reveal where the body was.

When detectives asked Brooks why he killed Andrews, Brooks replied that “I just lost my fucking temper.” He told officers the victim was “better off” now because he was “so miserable and tried to make me miserable with him,” according to records.

When Brooks was asked how did Andrews die, the defendant replied “probably from a lack of air.” A detective asked him if Andrews was choked, and Brooks said “what does it matter the way he died?” Brooks then said he gave Andrews “a proper burial.”

The hearing on Monday was a conditional exam of only one witness who will not be able to testify in the preliminary hearing that was reset for June 1. The witness, Heather Jackson, 19, who lives in New York, is six-months pregnant.

Jackson testified she met Elizarraraz online and eventually met him in person in December 2007, after he sent her a plane ticket to San Diego. She said she initially thought he was gay because “he was very feminine.” But she changed her mind after having sexual relations with Elizarraraz several times, she said.

Jackson also said she met Brooks, who was Elizarraraz’s roommate in a small downtown apartment. She said Brooks was introduced to her under the name of Josh Meyer. She identified Brooks in court, who was clad in a green jumpsuit. She noted he had grown a heavy beard and long hair (while in jail) since she last saw him.

Deputy District Attorney Dino Paraskevopoulos asked Jackson about the two men’s relationship, and she said they were “really good friends” who “were like brothers.” She said Elizarraraz told her he met Brooks in an online chatroom.

The prosecutor asked Jackson if she knew anything about Brooks’ sexual orientation. “It was hard to tell ’cause I never saw him with a female,” she replied. She said she knew nothing about Andrews or the homicide.

Jackson told Judge John Thompson she became aware of Brooks’ illegal activities with a sophisticated checking/printing system. Jackson said Brooks told her he only did business with large companies and was not committing fraud against “mom and pop stores.” She said Brooks asked her if he could make checks for her, but she said she declined.

On cross-examination with Brooks’ attorney Gary Gibson, Jackson said she saw no violence, anger, or drug use involving Brooks.

Elizarraraz and Brooks are charged together with four counts of conspiracy to commit grand theft, fraudulent use of access cards, forgery and burglary. They are also accused of possession of a forged driver’s license, receiving stolen property, and numerous forgery charges in a 16-count complaint.

Elizarraraz wants his $250,000 bail lowered and has a bail review set for April 13. He remains in the South Bay Detention Facility. Brooks is housed in the downtown central jail on $3 million bail.