Anthony Ibarra
Santa Barbara County Grand Jury transcripts suggest that a Santa Maria gang brutally murdered and tortured 28-year-old Anthony Ibarra over a drug tax debt. [KEYT]
Gang members tortured and killed Ibarra on March 17 at a residence on West Donovan Road in Santa Maria. The next day, conspirators dumped Ibarra’s body in a U-Haul truck, which police found on March 19 in an Orcutt residential neighborhood.
Led by Ramon “Cray Ray” Maldonado, the local drug tax collector, the gang members chose to kill Ibarra over a drug tax debt of at least $1,200, according to Grand Jury transcripts.
The gang expected Ibarra to pay a percentage of his drug sales to Maldonado. They also accused him of selling drugs from the gang without paying for them.
Eleven defendants, ranging in age from 15 to 54, currently face charges in connection with the Ibarra murder and torture. Maldonado, 37, is the primary suspect. His fifteen-year-old son Ramon “Little Ray” Maldonado Jr. and girlfriend Carmen Cardenas, 28, also face charges in the case.
All of the defendants in the Ibarra case return to Santa Maria Superior Court on July 18.
