BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) -- Years before he was arrested in the grisly slaying of his 8-year-old daughter, admitted gang member Ray Mata Jr. allegedly flashed a ghost gun at a passing vehicle.

Court records show he pleaded no contest last month to charges in both that case and another in which he was accused of possessing marijuana for sale.

Whatever he's sentenced to in those cases will be negligible compared to what he faces if convicted in his latest case.

Mata and Gabriela Bustamonte, the father and stepmother of Genesis Mata, are charged with murder, torture and aggravated mayhem, among other crimes, in the child's death.

Genesis was abused over two days at the La Quinta Inn near Buck Owens Boulevard, where the family had been staying the past three months, according to police r

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