A Montgomery County man in the MS-13 gang was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in federal prison for his role in a 2015 murder.
Daniel Flores-Ventura, 26, of Aspen Hill, was sentenced by Judge James K. Bredar to prison term for his participation in a “racketeering enterprise.” Flores-Ventura and several co-conspirators within the gang planned and conspired to kill a rival gang member, who is not named, according to a press from the U.S. attorney’s office.
Flores-Ventura will be on five years of supervised released upon completing his prison time.
“This sentence reaffirms the message that the violence perpetrated by MS-13 members and associates will not be tolerated,” U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur said in a statement.
According to the press release, Flores-Ventura admitted in his plea agreement that the four gang members drove the victim on July 16, 2015, from Silver Spring to Woodbridge, Va., under the pretext that they would administer a “disciplinary beating” to another person.
Flores-Ventura admitted hitting the victim on the head before other gang members stabbed the victim multiple times with machetes and knives.
Flores-Ventura pleaded guilty in April to the conspiracy charges and faced the possibility of a life sentence. Fellow gang members Vilas Sail Argueta-Bermudez and Michael Campos-Lemus, both of Aspen Hill, and Wilians Ernesto Lovos-Ayala of Woodbridge, Va., previously pleaded guilty to the same charge.
MS-13 is a gang mainly of El Salvadoran immigrants and descendants that operates in Maryland with branches, or “cliques,” that assist each other in criminal activity, according to the plea agreement.
Flores-Ventura, according to the press release, admitted that the murder was intended to increase the status of MS-13 in the community.
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@moco360.media
