By Julio-Cesar Chavez and Brendan O’Brien
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) -U.S. prosecutors charged an El Salvadoran man on Thursday with illegal possession of a firearm, hours after federal officials arrested him in an early morning raid in Virginia and alleged he was a leader of the MS-13 international criminal gang.
Henrry Josue Villatoro, 24, made a brief court appearance in Alexandria, Virginia, on Thursday where he faced a charge of firearm possession by an alien and was ordered kept in custody until an April 1 hearing.
In court papers, federal prosecutors said law enforcement officials “observed indicia of MS-13 association” while searching Villatoro’s bedroom, after raiding his home and arresting him on an administrative immigration warrant.
They made no other references to MS-13 and his alleged leadership role.
They said Villatoro was in the country illegally and therefore not allowed to own guns, but made no other reference to alleged MS-13 ties, which had featured prominently at a morning press conference by U.S.
Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Justice Department officials declined to comment on the discrepancy.
Bondi said earlier the suspect, whose name was undisclosed until his court appearance, was one of the top three leaders of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang living illegally in the United States.
She said he was recruited by the gang at an early age and headed the gang’s operation on the East Coast.
“The bad guy is in jail,” Bondi said. “America is safer today because of one of the top domestic terrorists in MS-13 … is off the streets.”
It is not uncommon for law enforcement to bring initial charges against a suspect following arrest and later to allege additional criminal charges as they develop more evidence.
However, prosecutors rarely make public allegations against defendants that they have yet to present in court, such as their leadership of a criminal organization.
Earlier this month, U.S. dropped charges against Cesar Lopez-Larios, another MS-13 leader, in order to deport him to El Salvador as part of a deal with the country’s President Nayib Bukele.
More than a dozen MS-13 members were indicted in 2020 on terrorism charges related to organized crime in the U.S., Mexico and El Salvador over the past two decades.
(Reporting by Julio-Cesar Chavez in Alexandria, Virginia, and Brendan O’Brien in Chicago, additional reporting by Sarah N.
Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone and Richard Chang)
