A Ventura man copped to a series of high-stakes crimes including extortion and armed robbery, slipping through the cracks of legality to admit guilt to a ten-count felony indictment. Oscar Aguirre Silva, 30, succumbed to the weight of his wrongdoings in a Los Angeles courthouse, pleading guilty to a slew of serious offenses related to a brazen crime spree last year.
Silva’s rap sheet includes one count of interference with commerce by extortion, two counts of robbery, three counts of bank fraud, two counts of attempted bank fraud, and a pair of aggravated identity theft charges – the crimes painting a portrait of a man pushed deeply to operate outside the bounds of law and decency. According to an announcement by the Department of Justice, Silva's spree involved threatening a taco truck vendor in Oxnard and staging multiple robberies, including the armed theft of a woman's items and the use of her credit cards for his gain.
Not alone in his criminal endeavors, Edward Donaldo Ramirez Martinez, 28, also of Ventura, acted as Silva’s accomplice. Martinez separately pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and possession of ammunition as a felon. The United States District Judge Hernán D. Vera has scheduled an August 8 sentencing hearing for both men.
Pulled apart by his methamphetamine use, Ramirez was additionally charged for illegally possessing a so-called “ghost gun” without a serial number and its ammunition. The charge stems from a December 2 incident, which further details have him barreling down the road of re-offense following a 2020 felony conviction. Per the DOJ statement, Silva could be staring down a maximum of 30 years per bank fraud count and up to 20 years for each of the Hobbs Act counts. Ramirez is looking at a less, yet substantial, maximum of 12 years behind bars.
Another co-defendant, David Rey Reyes, 30, faces a pivotal moment of reckoning at his own May 29 sentencing hearing before Judge Vera, following his guilty plea to attempted bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. The Ventura task force that brought down this trio, included contributions from the FBI and local law enforcement, underscoring the coordination necessary to put an end to their local reign of terror.
All three men are currently housing themselves in federal custody, no doubt contemplating the heavy price of their allegiance to anarchy – financial ruin, and personal disaster laid out in a roll call of charges that extoll the end of a lawless escapade. Assistant United States Attorney Lyndsi C. Allsop led the charge on the prosecution, adding yet another bulwark against the tide of such violent crimes.
