MS-13 Gang Member Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy To Extort Business Owners

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — MS-13 gang member Jilmer Hernandez-Alvarado, also known as Toro, 27, most recently of Hyattsville, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to extort business owners.

La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13 gang, is an international criminal enterprise that is active throughout the United States, including in Maryland. MS-13 in Maryland is organized into smaller groups operating in a specific area. Hernandez-Alvarado was a member of the Fulton clique of MS-13.

According to Hernandez-Alvarado’s guilty plea, MS-13 generated income from various sources, including extorting money from businesses, such as unlicensed businesses which operated in the territory of MS-13. From at least February 2018 to December 2020, Hernandez-Alvarado and other MS-13 members conspired to extort money or “rent” payments from Langley Park business owners through the threat of violence. Each week, Hernandez-Alvarado and his co-conspirators demanded rent payments from business owners for operating in territory controlled by MS-13 and threatened to harm business owners if the rent was not paid.

Hernandez-Alvarado faces a maximum sentence of 20 years and in prison for the extortion conspiracy.