MS-13 Member Accused Of LI Killing Arrested In El Salvador: DOJ

NASSAU COUNTY, NY — An alleged MS-13 member was arrested in El Salvador last week on charges connected to the killing of a Long Island man in 2016.

José Jonathan Guevara-Castro, also known as “Suspechoso,” was arrested on Aug. 13 in Acajutla,
Sonsonate, El Salvador, in connection with the murder of Kerin Pineda, who was thought to be a member of a rival gang to MS-13. Guevara-Castro, 25, lived in Roosevelt before fleeing to El Salvador.

“Guevara’s arrest more than 2,000 miles away from Long Island where he allegedly participated in the brutal murder of a young man more than four years ago, is a testament to the commitment of this office and our law enforcement partners to bringing members of the MS-13 gang to justice for their crimes,” said Acting United States Attorney Seth DuCharme. “There is no place to hide, here or abroad, and neither distance nor the passage of time will offer any safe harbor to criminals from our mission to eradicate violent gangs from the Eastern District of New York.”

DuCharme said that Guevara-Castro was arrested with the help of the investigators and
analysts of El Salvador’s Policía Nacional Civil Centro Antipandillas Transnacional unit, who are assigned to the Transnational Anti-Gang Unit, a task force of Salvadoran police officers receiving financial and technical assistance from the FBI and State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement.

Guevara-Castro is charged in a 24-count indictment, along with seven other members of MS-13, with racketeering offenses, murder and drug trafficking.

The main charge relates to the murder of 20-year-old Kerin Pineda, who was believed to be a member of the 18th Street Gang, which is a rival of MS-13. Pineda's murder was carried out by two different "cliques," or subgroups, of MS-13: the Hollywood Locos Salvatruchas, of which authorities say Guevara-Castro was a member, and the Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside.

On May 21, 2016, authorities say that MS-13 members lured Pineda to a secluded wooded area on the Merrick-Freeport border, where he was surrounded and attacked with machetes. Authorities say his mutilated body was buried in a hole that had been dug a day before. It was found more than a year later.

If convicted, Guevara-Castro faces up to life in prison.