MS-13 Member Charged In 2 Massapequa Preserve Slayings: Police

A suspected MS-13 member was arrested on Thursday and charged in two slayings that occurred in the Massapequa Preserve, Nassau police say.

Police say that Raul Ponce, 19, of Front Street, Hempstead, was involved in the slayings of both Bryan Steven Cho Lemus and Julio Cesar Gonzales-Espantzay, both of whom were killed and buried in the Massapequa Preserve.

Police found the body of Gonzales-Espantzay in April 2017. He had been killed in January of that year, police said. Two men were arrested in connection with his murder.

In May, police found Lemus's body just 150 feet from where Gonzales-Espantzay was buried. Police say he had been killed in August 2016 and buried in the preserve. Earlier this week, police arrested another MS-13 member for the killing.

Ponce was charged with two counts of second-degree murder. He is scheduled to be arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead on Thursday.