Jury finds man guilty in Calif. teen torture trial

A jury has found a neighbor guilty of torturing a teen held captive in a central California home for more than a year.

A San Joaquin County jury Tuesday found Anthony Waiters guilty on numerous counts, including aggravated mayhem, torture, kidnapping and false imprisonment of then-16-year-old Kyle Ramirez. The teen was held captive in the Tracy home of Waiters’ neighbors.

Ramirez testified that the 31-year-old Waiters cut him, lit his pants on fire and beat him unconscious between 2007 and 2008.

The emaciated teen escaped to a health club in December 2008 wearing only boxer shorts and a shackle across his ankle.

Waiters’ neighbors and the teen’s then-legal guardian accepted pleas last month to more than a dozen felonies and will be sentenced to prison next month. Waiters is scheduled to be sentenced in January.

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