Teen Embarks on Violent Crime Wave Involving Murder and Robbery

A California man faces decades in prison for his monthslong rampage that included murdering a victim by stabbing him in the brain, punching a octogenarian, breaking his jaw, and luring young girls to a motel where he engaged in unlawful sexual activities.

Jacob Saldivar, now 23, on Monday pleaded guilty to 12 felonies, including murder, robbery, sodomy and residential burglary, according to the Ventura County District Attorney”s Office. Saldivar was 16 going on 17 when he committed the slew of crimes between April and June of 2019.

He admitted to murdering 34-year-old Charles Barber on June 24, 2019, in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Oxnard — some 60 miles west of Los Angeles — when he became angry and attacked the victim with a knife.

“Barber collapsed inside the complex and subsequently died from multiple stab wounds, including one that penetrated his brain,” prosecutors said.

Before and after the murder, Saldivar carried out several robberies, assaults and burglaries. He targeted several teenagers who were walking home from school or the store and stole their phones, cash and jewelry. Saldivar assaulted some of the teens, sending them to the hospital.

Saldivar also preyed on elderly victims. Just hours after Barber’s slaying, he robbed a 75-year-old man in a Home Depot parking lot, snatching several of the victim’s necklaces, one of which contained the wedding ring of his dead wife. Roughly two weeks before the murder, he knocked out an 82-year-old man, breaking his jaw and leaving the victim with “lasting memory issues.”

The man also lured two young girls to a motel on June 27, 2019, and gave one of them a Xanax before engaging in “unlawful sex acts,” according to prosecutors. Later that day, Saldivar posed for selfies with a gun and pounded on a motel door, which led to his arrest, bringing his reign of terror to an end.

Despite being a minor at the time of the crimes, prosecutors tried Saldivar as an adult. He faces between 33 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on Oct. 7.