Annapolis Man Pleads Guilty To Racketeering, Assisting In Murder

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A 21-year-old Annapolis man has pleaded guilty to racketeering and a weapons offense, and confessed that he and other MS-13 members stabbed a 22-year-old to death in Annapolis in 2016.

Fermin Gomez-Jimenez, 21, of Annapolis wrote in his plea agreement that he helped kill Jose Hernandez-Portilla as part of a group assault that left two men permanently disfigured. Fermin Gomez-Jimenez also pleaded guilty to selling marijuana and cocaine on behalf of the gang.

Gomez-Jimenez wrote in his plea agreement that he stabbed Hernandez-Portilla multiple times during the attack and that the man was believed to be a member of a rival gang. Gomez-Jimenez is the second man to plead guilty to participating in Hernandez-Portillo’s death. David Diaz-Alvarado, 21, of Annapolis pleaded guilty to racketeering in May, writing in a plea agreement that had allowed another gang member to borrow his knife that was used in the attack while he stood watch for police.

The Capital Gazette reported that Gomez-Jimenez and other members of the MS-13′s Hempstead Locos Salvatruchas branch also conspired to kill an unlicensed taxi driver in Annapolis who they thought was a member of a rival gang. In his plea agreement, Gomez-Jimenez wrote that an unnamed co-conspirator had arranged a taxi ride from a suspected rival taxi driver. The other gang member then shot a victim inside the car who tried to run off.

Gomez-Jimenez also was part of a group that assaulted two men with knives, machetes and guns. The victims suffered severe injuries and one lost several portions of his fingers after being struck by machetes. The other victim required more than 200 staples to treat wounds sustained in the attack.

Orlando Evelio Gomez-Jimenez, 19, also of Annapolis, pleaded guilty to participating in the attack and Manuel Martinez-Aguilar, 20, was sentenced to 24 years in prison after admitting in his plea agreement that he tried to run over one of the targeted man with his car.

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