MS-13 Gang Member Pleads Guilty To Racketeering, Including Two Murders
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A member of the violent MS-13 gang pleaded guilty Monday to a federal racketeering charge for his participation in two murders, two attempted murders and a kidnapping, the justice department said.
Carlos Alaz Brizuela, 29, faces between 29 and 36 years in prison when he's sentenced in February.
In a plea agreement, Brizuela admitted to conspiring with other gang members beginning in 2015 to commit a number of crimes, including a murder in Frederick on April 7, 2015, and another murder in Montgomery County in August of that year.
In the first murder, Brizuela and other gang members reportedly lured the victim to a wooded area in Frederick where they hit him in the head with a rock and then hit him with a machete and a knife until he died. The next day, they buried his body near the scene.
The second murder happened on August 31, 2015, after several MS-13 members got into an altercation with the victim, whom they believed belonged to a rival gang. During the fight, they fatally stabbed the victim.
Three days before, several MS-13 members reportedly attacked a man whom they believed to be a rival gang member and his girlfriend. Both survived, but the man was left with both hands nearly severed.
The justice department said 29 defendants have been charged in the case or related cases.