United States Drug Enforcement Administration

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment today charging twelve members and associates of “La Mara Salvatrucha”, or MS-13, with a variety of offenses based on their involvement in racketeering, drug trafficking, and a series of murders.

Those charged in the indictment are:

According to the indictment, the defendants were members or associates of the Sitios Locos Salvatrucha clique (STLS) of MS-13, which has operated in Northern Virginia and elsewhere for at least the past several years. The indictment alleges that since at least in and around 2017, these MS-13 members and associates regularly traveled to and from Long Island, New York, for the purpose of obtaining cocaine and transporting it to the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, where they and other gang members would sell it primarily, though not exclusively, in restaurants and night clubs. 

The indictment also charges eight of the defendants with a number of offenses stemming from their alleged involvement in four murders that occurred in Eastern Prince William County between June 22, 2019, and September 24, 2019. Specifically, the indictment charges:

• Guevara, Arevalo, and Turcios with the June 2019 double-murder of M.B.L. and J.G.M., and Vasquez with helping them after they committed the murders;
• Canales and Andrade with the August 2019 murder of E.L.T.; and
• Guevara, Molina, and Aguilera with the September 2019 murder of A.K.S.

Defendants, in this case, are charged with racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, accessory after the fact to murder in aid of racketeering, witness tampering, using a firearm during a crime of violence causing death, possessing a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, and violations of the Controlled Substances Act, among other crimes. The statutory penalties for the charged offenses range from a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison to capital punishment. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Washington Division; Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal Division; and Peter Newsham, Chief of Prince William County Police, made the announcement.

Significant assistance was provided by our partners with the Northern Virginia Violent Gang Safe Streets Task Force, the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force, ICE/ERO, DEA, ATF, and the United States Marshal Service. The Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney in Prince William County also provided significant assistance.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation, Operation City of Bridges. 

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