IE gang leader sentenced to nine years in prison for ordering kidnapping

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) - A leader of a Riverside County-based gang was sentenced today to nine years behind bars for ordering -- while already behind bars for attempted murder -- the 2023 kidnapping of a woman in Riverside as punishment for losing the gang's extortion proceeds.

Luis Ramirez, 49, formerly of Jurupa Valley, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr., who ordered him to serve the sentence consecutive to his current life term in state prison.

Ramirez pleaded guilty in July 2025 to one federal count of violent crime in aid of racketeering.

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

To maintain his status as a gang leader, Ramirez ordered two co-defendants to kidnap the woman, who was held at a gang-controlled clothing store in Riverside.  

Once inside the store, kidnappers forced the victim -- whom they blamed for the loss of $7,247 in gang proceeds -- inside a locked bathroom, where she was confined for several days with little access to food, papers filed in Los Angeles federal court show.

The woman ultimately escaped after being left alone inside the store, and was hospitalized.

According to federal prosecutors, the woman was malnourished, did not have access to necessary medication, and suffered physical and emotional abuse during the ordeal.

Co-defendants Jose Jonathan Rubalcaba Alarcon, 23, and Gilbert Rey Martinez, 22, both of Jurupa Valley, pleaded guilty to federal charges in the case. Martinez is serving a 46-month prison sentence and Rubalcaba is serving a 41-month sentence, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.