Santa Barbara rapper Mario Alberto Hernandez-Pacheco, known online as Sad Boy Loko, took a three-year plea to avoid an attempted murder trial for his involvement in a stabbing during a drug deal gone wrong.
On Nov. 18, Mr. Hernandez-Pacheco, 30, pleaded guilty to felony assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury and “a separate felony charge of PC 186.22(a), Street Terrorism/Participation in a Criminal Street Gang, thereby admitting his involvement in the assault of victim on 7/23/18,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Kimberly Siegel.
Judge James Herman accepted Mr. Hernandez-Pacheco’s plea and will formally sentence him on Jan. 15, 2020. Mr. Hernandez-Pacheco will serve his time in state prison.
Ms. Siegel said two juveniles were convicted of similar charges by trial in Juvenile Court earlier this year.
Testimony from Mr. Hernandez-Pacheco’s preliminary hearing revealed he participated in a group attack on the victim when the victim threatened to contact law enforcement after a botched drug deal. The victim told a detective from the Santa Barbara Police Department that one of Mr. Hernandez-Pacheco’s associates stole his backpack full of drugs.
The incident occurred at the Cacique Footbridge in the early morning hours of July 23, 2018.
The victim suffered a 15-centimeter stab wound to the top of his head, a fractured skull, a stab wound to his shoulder and bruises over his chest and arms.
Before his arrest on Aug. 3, 2018, Mr. Hernandez-Pacheco had budding rap career under the stage name Sad Boy Loko. His first viral music video was the 2011 release was “I’m Still Here.” It quickly reached 1 million views on YouTube and has more than 2 million today.
Music videos for his songs “Gang Signs”, “For My Gangstas” and “Take A Ride,” also have received millions of views and he was featured on YG’s 2016 track Blacks & Browns.
email: pgonzalez@newspress.com
