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Alleged murder accomplice identified
By NEIL HARTSTEIN
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
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When former District Attorney Joyce Dudley announced last December that defendant Igor Ortiz had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of a Santa Barbara restaurant worker, she said he committed the crime with the help of an accomplice. The identity of that accomplice was not revealed at that time.
But the News-Press has learned
District attorney’s office reveals that Angel Rafael Barajas Flores Jr., 35, is being charged
that Mr. Ortiz’s alleged accomplice is Angel Rafael Barajas Flores Jr., 35.
Like Mr. Ortiz, Mr. Flores was charged with murder for allegedly killing Alberto Torres on June 1, 2019 just yards from the victim’s home on the 1300 block of Cacique Street after he walked there following his shift at a downtown Santa Barbara restaurant.
Like his co-defendant, Mr. Flores pleaded not guilty, but unlike Mr. Ortiz, he hasn’t changed his mind and now faces a murder trial.
“He is set for a trial readiness conference on March 15,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Tate McAllister told the News-Press.
Mr. Ortiz, 22, was sentenced Feb. 8 to 25 years to life in state prison for the murder. As part of his agreement to plead guilty, he admitted he committed the murder as part of his association with a street gang.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Mr. Ortiz also admitted that he used a knife in the commission of the murder and committed the premeditated murder in association with members of the Westside criminal street gang for the benefit of the Westside gang.
Prosecutors said the homicide occurred during the early morning hours of June 1, 2019.
“Just yards from his home, Mr. Torres was attacked by Mr. Ortiz and an accomplice,” prosecutors said in their Dec. 28 news release.
“During the attack, Mr. Ortiz and his accomplice repeatedly stabbed
Mr. Torres, killing him.”
The murder charge against both defendants includes a special circumstance that they intentionally killed Mr. Torres “while the defendant was an active participant in Westside (Santa Barbara), a criminal street gang, and that the murder was carried out to further the activities of the criminal street gang.”
A second special circumstance alleges the two defendants intentionally killed him “while
