Photo: File photo of Juan Carlos Urbina Serrano | Solano County Sheriff’s Office
Written By: Robert L. McCullough
November 20, 2022 – Santa Barbara County, Ca. – 34-year-old Juan Carlos Urbina Serrano, a former resident of Santa Maria, Ca., is not a man with much of a future. With a history as a member of the infamous MS-13 gang, Serrano was convicted earlier this year of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder with sentencing enhancements pursuant to his gang affiliation. According to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, Serrano—known by a nickname that translates to “Dangerous”—was sentenced for his crimes to a term of “313 years to life plus nine life- without-parole sentences.”
Apparently that sentence did little to mitigate Serrano’s respect for the lives of others. He was transported from Santa Barbara County Jail to Centinela State Prison in Imperial County the day after his May 18, 2022 sentencing to join 3,000 residents of that facility for the foreseeable future. Just six months later, at approximately 10:00 a.m. on the morning of November 14th, Serrano and a confederate “allegedly attacked a fellow inmate” with sharpened “inmate- manufactured” weapons in a prison recreation yard, stabbing their victim repeatedly.
Their victim was transported to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his wounds ten hours later. Serrano was then moved to “segregated housing” where he will presumably reside as “the investigation continues and additional murder charges are filed.”
