SAN FRANCISCO — In a major update to an existing federal prosecution targeting MS-13, federal prosecutors in the Bay Area have tied two previously unsolved homicides to the infamous Los Angeles-based gang, according to an indictment unsealed this week.
The indictment adds two new murder charges to a racketeering case that was filed in March 2020 targeting 17 alleged members and associates of MS-13. This new indictment is slimmed down; 13 people are charged, but the charges are much more serious. The defendants had previously been linked to several assaults and attempted killings, but no homicides.
The new indictment charges alleged gang members with murdering a person referred to only by the initials “GA” in Bernal Heights in May 2017, as well as murdering Gilberto Martin Jr. Rodriguez, 53, on the Pacifica shoreline in February 2018. Prosecutors allege that GA was an MS-13 member who violated gang rules and that Rodriguez was identified as a rival gang member by the group.
In both instances, the victims were hacked with machetes, which is something of a grisly trademark for the MS-13 gang. Rodriguez was also shot, according to police.
According to the indictment, alleged MS-13 members Elmer “Gordo” Rodriguez, Edwin Alvarado Amaya, also known as “Muerte,” and Kenneth “Nesio” Campos, participated in the killing of GA. It says Alvarado Amaya killed the man at Bernal Heights Park on Rodriguez’s direction, striking him in the head numerous times with a “bladed weapon like a machete.”
Rodriguez, the indictment alleges, was murdered by Jose Maria Tercero Perez, also known as “Delito,” Kevin Reyes Melendez, also known as “Neutron,” Kevin Guatemala Zepeda, also known as “Mision,” and Fernando Romero Bonilla, also known as “Black.” The indictment alleges Tercero Perez and Reyes Melendez personally killed Rodriguez, and that Abner Marroquin Alegria, also known as “Chapin” and “Coche,” drove them away from the scene. Afterwards, Guatemala Zepeda and Romero Bonilla allegedly returned to the crime scene to take a “portable music device” from Rodriguez that they feared might incriminate them, prosecutors claim.Check back for updates
0 comments:
Post a Comment