El Salvadoran Illegal Alien Sentenced for Role in MS-13 Gang Murder HSTF Case

Baltimore, Maryland - An El Salvadoran illegal alien, who resided in Frederick, Maryland, received a prison term in federal court, today, for his role in the murder of a minor.

U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson sentenced Jose Ramos Lopez, 26, to seven years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise in connection with murdering Victim 1. As an MS-13 member, Ramos Lopez typically received and sold marijuana and then provided the proceeds to gang leadership. He also collected extortion money from area brothels that the clique leveraged to raise money for the gang.

Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentence with Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul, FBI Baltimore Field Office, and Interim Chief Kevin Meyer, Frederick Police Department (FPD).

According to the guilty plea, on February 24, 2023, MS-13 gang members, including Victim 1, gathered outside of a Frederick apartment complex. Gang members then lured Victim 1 to a wooded area to smoke marijuana. While in the wooded area, gang members stabbed Victim 1 with knives and slashed him with a machete until he died.

Following the murder, Ramos Lopez came to the murder site to assist gang members with cleaning up and disposing of evidence from the murder of the victim, including weapons and clothing. Gang members additionally dismembered Victim 1's body, transported it to another wooded area, and then buried it in two clandestine graves.

Subsequently, law enforcement found the area where the MS-13 gang killed Victim 1. They identified a wooded area with a blood trail leading from a chair down the hill to a creek. Law enforcement discovered blood along the creek, blood on rocks, and a white plastic bag with blood.

Then law enforcement uncovered a black trash bag with items covered in blood, including two hats, two coats, and two pairs of pants in a nearby dumpster, along with a grocery bag with blood inside, and a knife.

Law enforcement later recovered portions of Victim 1's dismembered body from two clandestine graves near Mink Farm Road in Thurmont, Maryland.

The Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Baltimore comprises agents and officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI); the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) for the District of Maryland; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); the United States Marshals Service (USMS); the Washington/Baltimore HIDTA (W/B HIDTA); the Maryland State Police (MSP); the Baltimore Police Department (BPD); and the Baltimore County Police Department (BCPD) with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland.

U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the FBI and FPD for their work in the investigation. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth S. Clark and Jared M. Beim who are prosecuting this federal case.

For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, visit justice.gov/usao-md.

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