MS-13 Leader From Silver Spring Pleads Guilty To Multiple Charges

SILVER SPRING, MD — An MS-13 leader from Silver Spring has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to participate in racketeering activities, including three murders and two attempted murders, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Maryland announced Monday.

Jorge Guerra-Castillo — also known as Pelon — was part of the Fulton Locos Salvatruchas “clique” of MS-13, according to the U.S. Attorney’s statement. Guerra-Castillo, 40, ordered at least one member to kill “Victim One,” and others went to him for approval to participate in the killing, the statement says.

“As part of the scheme to murder Victim 1, MS-13 members lured Victim 1 to a wooded area in Frederick, Maryland where members repeatedly struck Victim 1 with a machete and a knife until he was dead,” the U.S. Attorney’s statement says. “The day after the murder, MS-13 members buried Victim 1 in a wooded area where Victim 1’s body was ultimately recovered.”

“Victim Two” was extorted and forced to make payments to MS-13 — when he stopped paying, Guerra-Castillo ordered other gang members to kidnap and kill the victim in a wooded area, the statement says. Guerra-Castillo and other leaders said the victim could be released after Victim Two promised to make payments to the gang.

Gang members identified “Victim Three” as a rival gang member and went to Guerra-Castillo for permission to kill him, the statement says. They surveilled his apartment and on Aug. 28, 2015 they waited for Victim Three and his girlfriend, “Victim Four,” to get home.

“When they arrived, three gang members attacked Victim 3 and Victim 4 with a machete and knives,” the statement says. “Although both survived, the attack on Victim 3 left the victim with severe wounds to the face and both hands nearly severed. As a result of the attack, Victim 3 has lost all function of one hand and still has only limited use of the other.”

Guerra-Castillo also admitted that he “approved and assisted” in planning the murder of a rival gang member. In June of 2017, Guerra-Castillo’s girlfriend lured “Victim 18” to a location where MS-13 members were waiting to kidnap him, according to the statement. They took him in a car to a parking lot in Crownsville, MD, and attacked him with a machete and knives until he was dead. They dismembered the body and left it in a pre-dug grave, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

If Guerra-Castillo accepts the plea deal, he will be sentenced to between 390 and 540 months in federal prison.