Washington Grove Man Gets 30 Years for MS-13 Involvement

A Washington Grove man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in MS-13, a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Kevin Henriquez-Chavez, also known as “Loco” and “Crazy,” 24, also will have five years of supervised release, for conspiring to participate in a racketeering enterprise known as La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13; and conspiring to use and carry a firearm during a crime of violence, the statement said.

MS-13 is a gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador, with members operating in Maryland, including Montgomery, Prince George’s and Frederick counties, as well as throughout the United States.

Branches or “cliques” of MS-13 often work together cooperatively to engage in criminal activity and to assist one another in avoiding detection by law enforcement.

One of the cliques is Cabanas Locos Salvatruchas, “Cabanas.”

MS-13 cliques often combine and work together as “Programs,” with the purpose of increasing the gang’s levels of organization, violence, extortion and other criminal activity. A person within the participating cliques is selected as the Program leader.

According to his plea agreement, from 2015 through 2016, Henriquez-Chavez was a member of the Cabanas clique and served as the “First Word” or leader of the clique, the statement said.

As detailed in his plea agreement, Henriquez-Chavez admitted that on November 1, 2015, he and three other MS-13 members and associates were behind an elementary school in Montgomery Village, where Victim 3 was also present.

Henriquez-Chavez told one of his co-conspirators to get a gun that was maintained by the Cabanas Clique.

To gain entrance to, maintain and increase their position in MS-13, the conspirators made a plan to murder Victim 3, whom Henriquez-Chavez and the co-conspirators believed to be a member of the rival 18th Street Gang.

Henriquez-Chavez provided instructions that the co-conspirators invite Victim 3 to accompany them into the woods to smoke marijuana and to meet up with a girl on the other side and told each of the co-conspirators to take a turn shooting Victim 3. Victim 3 agreed to accompany the co-conspirators and was subsequently shot to death.

Five other co-defendants have all pleaded guilty to the racketeering conspiracy and other charges related to their association with MS-13. They remain detained as they await sentencing.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.

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