Long Beach Gang Members Accused of Witness Intimidation Ordered to Stand Trial
Allison Jean Eaton (Long Beach News) | April 21, 2011
A judge on Wednesday ordered a handful of men to stand trial on charges of witness intimidation for allegedly threatening to kill two witnesses who testified in a high-profile, gang-related murder case last year.
The Press-Telegram is reporting that Efren Flores, 20, Raul Flores, 20, Jose Garcia, 20, Jesus Perez, 22, and Bernardo Villareal, 20, all of Long Beach, allegedly threatened to kill two witnesses who testified against a pair of teenage boys charged with murder and various counts of attempted murder.
The defendants in that 2010 case, Eric Benites and Jason Trejo, allegedly belong to the same gang as the five men charged with intimidating witnesses who cooperated with police.
Benites and Trejo, who were 15 and 14, respectively, when they committed their crimes, were both found guilty of murdering 16-year-old Florentino Rivera and attempting to kill several others between December 2007 and January 2008. Both teens were originally sentenced to more than 200 years each behind bars. Their sentences, however, have since been converted to 50 years to life, according to the PT.
Read more at: http://www.lbpost.com/news/allison/11505