FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC at 410-209-4885
November 6, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MS-13 MEMBER SENTENCED FOR USING A FIREARM IN FURTHERANCE OF A RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY
Used Gun in High Point Senior High School Shooting
GREENBELT Maryland - Jose Pena Aguilar, a/k/a “Smookie,” a/k/a “Smokey,” age 24, of Beltsville, Maryland was sentenced today to 10 years in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release for use of a firearm in furtherance of the MS-13 gang, a racketeering conspiracy, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow ordered that this sentence be served on top of a 20 year sentence Aguilar already has received in the Circuit Court, Prince George’s County, Maryland for an attempted murder at High Point Senior High School.
According to the statement of facts provided to the court as part of his August 3, 2006 plea agreement, La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13 gang, is a gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador, with members operating throughout Prince George’s County and Montgomery County, Maryland, and elsewhere. MS-13 is a national and international criminal organization with approximately 10,000 members regularly conducting gang activities in at least ten states and the District of Columbia, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador.
According to the statement of facts, Aguilar was an MS-13 member. On April 20, 2003, MS-13 members beat a rival gang member in Langley Park, Maryland. An MS-13 member then murdered the victim by shooting him. Aguilar drove the getaway car and stored the gun used in the murder in the vehicle. On June 10, 2003, Aguilar and other MS-13 members attempted to kill a juvenile member of a rival gang outside of High Point Senior High School in Beltsville, Maryland with the same gun. Aguilar, at the urging of another gang member, retrieved the gun from the vehicle and shot the victim in the chest.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the investigative work performed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Prince George’s County Police Department; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Montgomery County Police Department; the Howard County Police Department; the Maryland National Capital Park Police; the Maryland State Police and the Fairfax County, Virginia Police Department. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sandra Wilkinson and James Trusty, and Prince George’s County Assistant State’s Attorney Laura Gwinn, who are prosecuting the case.
This page last modified—November 6, 2006