From 2018 to 2022, an MS-13 gang member killed five people in Northern Virginia and one person in Massachusetts. On Monday, a federal jury found him guilty.
In a news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said that 27-year-old Elmer De Jesus Alas Candray, who is from El Salvador and also goes by the names German Alexander Ramirez Lopez, Buky, and Desquiciado, was found guilty of six murders and five counts of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, and using a firearm during a violent crime that resulted in death.
“This case is a stark reminder of how violent and careless MS-13’s criminal enterprise is,” said Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Their deadly activities, from flooding our streets with dangerous narcotics to the brutal murders by which they attempt to impose their presence, will not go unchecked.”
Six killings were done by Candray and several other people working with him.
On August 15, 2018, Candray met up with other MS-13 members in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to kill K.A.C., a member of MS-13’s Directos Locos Salvatrucha gang. This was the first crime that was brought to justice.
The chiefs of the gang gave the order to kill because they thought K.A.C. betrayed MS-13. Their meeting that night was at the home of an MS-13 member in New Bedford, where they beat and choked K.A.C. until he died, according to the lawyer’s office.
The body of the victim was then cut up and put in trash bags before being buried in the woods. Candray and the other people involved were given promotions for their part in the killings.
Acting Special Agent in Charge Geist said, “Alas Candray killed six horrible people to move up in MS-13, showing a disgusting lack of care for their lives.”
On June 23, 2019, almost a year later, Candray and other MS-13 gang members and allies got ready to go to Hunters Woods in Reston, Virginia. They had a 9mm pistol, a.45 caliber gun, and two machetes with them. While they were there, the group was accused of killing someone by cutting and shooting him.
Court papers say Candray and others also lied to get a young woman named I.J.P.G. to go with them on Sept. 17, 2020, on Colts Neck Road in Reston. When the woman showed up, Candray and three other people killed her by shooting her in the face one at a time.
From March 2021 to June 18, 2022, Candray took part in three other killings in Northern Virginia. Then, on August 18, 2022, he told a family member to use coded language to tell gang members and friends to get rid of their weapons because police had pictures of them. The team was also told to leave the area by Candray. The family member told others about the message the next day.
When Fox News Digital asked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for more information about Candray’s immigration status, they did not reply right away.
A federal judge will decide what to do with Candray on January 30. For each of the murder charges, he could spend the rest of his life in jail.
Article Source: MS-13 gang member convicted for ‘gruesome murders’ in Northern Virginia, Massachusetts
