The Santa Barbara criminal grand jury issued two separate indictments against 17 MS-13 gang members on July 8, according to a press release from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney (DA).
The indictments cover the suspected MS-13 members and associates who were arrested during Operation Matador, the March 3 Santa Maria Police Department (SMPD) operation that served warrants at 12 locations spanning from Santa Maria to Columbus, Ohio. Eight of those warrants were served in Santa Maria.
The operation included law enforcement from eight agencies and initially arrested 15 alleged gang members. An additional two people have been arrested since.
At a press conference following the operation, SMPD Chief Ralph Martin said the department’s goal was to completely eliminate MS-13 gang presence in Santa Maria.
“The city of Santa Maria will no longer be a city where MS-13 or any other street gang can live or engage in a career criminal enterprise,” Martin said at the March 3 conference.
The charges originally filed against the defendants in March will be dismissed because of the DA’s indictments.
The first indictment, against 12 people, contains 50 felony counts that occurred between January 2013 and March 2016, including 24 victims, 10 of whom are deceased at the hands of first-degree murder. Other charges include 14 counts of conspiracy to commit murder, 19 counts of criminal street gang conspiracy, one count of witness intimidation by force, and one count of conspiracy to commit street terrorism.
The second indictment, against five people, charges four counts of conspiracy to commit murder, one count of conspiracy to commit street terrorism, one count of criminal street gang conspiracy, and one count of possession of a concealed firearm.
The defendants’ arraignment began on July 11 and was continued to July 22 in Department 9. According to the DA’s news release, the DA will seek a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for those charged with first-degree murder.
This article appears in Jul 14-21, 2016.