Former gang leader found guilty in retrial, sent to prison for life.

[UPDATE: September 23, 2014]

Gang leader Raymond Daniel Macias was found guilty Monday of kidnapping for extortion for his role in the kidnapping and torture of a Lompoc man over a drug debt. Macias will spend his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutor Ann Bramsen — who decided to retry the 35-year-old former leader of the Santa Barbara Eastside Krazies, and is known by the gang moniker “Boxer,” after a jury in June found him guilty of torture and sale of methamphetamine, but hung on two other charges, kidnapping for extortion and solicitation for extortion — said she is pleased with the verdict.

“It will make a significant difference in public safety,” Bramsen said. “This conviction and this sentence ensures that he will never get out.”

The case was a result of an eight-month investigation by the Lompoc Police Department that began in October 2012 as a narcotics investigation and evolved after authorities learned of the January 3, 2013, torture and kidnapping of a former Lompoc gang member who goes by the gang moniker “Sicko.”

[ORIGINAL STORY: September 22, 2014]

Ray Macias was found guilty by a Santa Maria jury this afternoon of kidnapping for extortion with special allegations of causing substantial injury, principal use of a firearm, and a criminal street gang allegation. The trial was the second on those charges, after Macias was convicted in June of torture with special allegations of principal use of a firearm and a criminal street gang allegation, and sale of methamphetamine with a criminal street gang allegation, but the jury could not decide on the count of kidnapping for extortion. The crimes were committed in January 2013 when gang members beat up Stephen Mendibles and struck him with an ax because he was said to owe Macias $1,100 for drugs. Macias faces a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

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