Murder Case: Santa Cruz Co. MS-13 Member Pleads Guilty, Feds Say

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA — The ex-chief of the Santa Cruz chapter of Mexican street gang La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, pleaded guilty to charges related to murder, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Tuesday.

Alexander Martinez-Flores, 29, was the highest-ranking member of the Santa Cruz Salvatrucha Locos from February to August 2014 and was a member from at least January 2013 to February 2017, prosecutors said in a statement. He pleaded guilty to using a firearm to cause murder, conspiracy to commit murder and extortion and racketeering conspiracy.

Martinez-Flores admitted in his plea deal to looking for rivals to kill and using guns and knives to beat up, stab, threaten or shoot rival gang members on what the group declared as its own turf. He collected an extortion payment from a drug dealer, prosecutors wrote.

Martinez-Flores is facing 30 years in prison and five-years of supervised release.

Nine other former Santa Cruz MS-13-affiliated members have pleaded guilty for their roles, prosecutors wrote.

United States District Judge Edward J. Davila will sentence Martinez-Flores at 1:30 p.m. June 8.

Read more from the U.S. Attorney's Office here.