FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
February
25, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MS-13 ASSOCIATE SENTENCED TO ALMOST 4 YEARS IN PRISON FOR ILLEGALLY RE-ENTERING THE U.S. AFTER BEING DEPORTED
Crimes Committed With MS-13 Gang Members
Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. sentenced Christian Castellon-Gutierrez, age 18, a Guatemalan national, today to 46 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for illegal re-entry to the United States after being deported.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III of the Baltimore Police Department; and Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
According to information presented at today’s sentencing hearing, in 2008, Castellon-Gutierrez was convicted in the Circuit Court of Maryland for Montgomery County of robbery with a dangerous weapon. According to court documents, in February 2008, Castellon-Gutierrez and four other Hispanic men surrounded the victim, who was walking through a public park in Montgomery County. Castellon-Gutierrez, pulled a kitchen-type knife from his pocket and demanded the victim’s jacket, which the victim gave him. Castellon-Gutierrez and his associates left but were later arrested after the victim notified law enforcement of the robbery. Castellon-Gutierrez was identified as the person who had wielded the knife. Subsequent investigation revealed that the men with whom Castellon-Gutierrez was associating that day, and with whom he collaborated in executing the armed robbery, were MS-13 gang members. Castellon-Gutierrez was sentenced to five years, which was suspended but for time served, and one year of unsupervised probation. Castellon-Gutierrez was deported from the United States on December 2, 2008.
Castellon-Gutierrez illegally returned to the United States within three months after being deported and was still on unsupervised probation when he was arrested for a violent incident at the Iguana Cantina in downtown Baltimore on April 13, 2009. Police reports and witness testimony indicate that a young man and two young women were leaving the cantina, when they were approached by a group of Hispanic men, who began yelling “MS-13" and flashing that gang’s hand signs. The group of men attacked the male victim and began kicking and punching him. One of the Hispanic men then began assaulting and stabbing one of the female victims and the other young female was also ultimately stabbed ten times in the back. Law enforcement arrested the men involved in the attack. Castellon-Gutierrez, who had given the police a false name at the time of his arrest, was positively identified by one of the victims as a participant in the violent assaults
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorney Sujit Raman, who prosecuted the case.