Jury Reaches Guilty Verdict For Lompoc Street Gang Leader

A verdict has been reached in the retrial of a Lompoc street gang leader Raymond Macias, accused in a high-profile kidnapping and torture case. This comes after a mistrial was declared back in June in the kidnapping charges against Macias.

This retrial was over one of the charges he was facing, which was kidnapping for extortion purposes. Today, the jury returned a verdict of guilty as to that count.

Back in June, Macias was convicted on 2 of the 4 counts he was charged with. All together, he’s guilty of 3 of the 4 charges, which include torture and sales of methamphetamine. All charges include criminal street gang allegations.

Macias is known as the leader of a well-known Lompoc street gang with ties to the Mexican mafia. He’s one of 12 people involved in this case, which involved holding a fellow gang member against his will and torturing him over unpaid drug debts. All 12 defendants have been convicted.

This guilty verdict on Monday carries life without the possibility of parole.

The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office was happy with the result.

“I think it makes a tremendous difference in our community to have a violent gang leader such as Mr. Macias convicted of what he did and then eventually put away for the rest of his life so he can never victimize another person,” said Ann Bramsen, Senior Deputy District Attorney.

Macias will return to the Santa Maria courthouse on November 5th for his sentencing.