Gang Members Kidnapped Woman, Held Her Inside A Riverside County Store For Days: DOJ

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A 49-year-old Riverside County man convicted last year of one count of violent crime in aid of racketeering was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in federal prison. It will add to the current life sentence he was already serving.

Luis Ramirez of Jurupa Valley was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. who ordered him to serve the sentence consecutive to his current sentence. Ramirez pleaded guilty in July and has been in federal custody since June 2024.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice narrative, Ramirez, the former leader of an Inland Empire street gang, ordered a 2023 kidnapping of a woman in Riverside as punishment for losing the gang’s extortion proceeds when law enforcement seized them.

According to his plea agreement and other court documents, Ramirez was a leader of Westside Riva, a Jurupa Valley-based street gang. The gang engaged in a variety of racketeering activities, including extorting local businesses for the payment of “taxes” for permission to operate within areas the gang claimed as its territory.

Westside Riva also conducted, managed, and supervised an illegal gambling business within its territory. It required other gambling businesses operating within its territory to pay a portion of revenue for the gang’s permission to operate, according to the DOJ.

To maintain his status as a gang leader, Ramirez — who was serving a sentence in California state prison for attempted murder — ordered the kidnapping of a woman identified in court documents as “Person 1.” On September 27, 2023, co-defendants Jose Jonathan Rubalcaba Alarcon, 23, and Gilbert Rey Martinez, 22, both of Jurupa Valley, kidnapped the victim and ultimately held her at a gang-controlled clothing store in Riverside, according to the DOJ.

Rubalcaba and Martinez forced the victim into a bathroom inside the store and locked her in. The victim was held there for several days before escaping on October 1, 2023.

“At [Ramirez’s] direction, [Rubalcaba and Martinez] kidnapped and confined Person 1 in a WSR-controlled store, without regular access to food, for four to five days,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “Person 1 was malnourished, did not have access to necessary medication, suffered physical abuse at the hands of…Martinez, suffered emotional distress, and was ultimately admitted to a hospital following her escape.”

Rubalcaba and Martinez have pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges in this case. Martinez is serving a 46-month prison sentence and Rubalcaba is serving a 41-month prison sentence.

The FBI and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigated the matter.