HSI Washington, D.C. investigation lands 4 MS-13 gang members in prison for racketeering, violent crimes, drug distribution
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Four Northern Virginia MS-13 gang members received prison sentences for their parts in a racketeering conspiracy that included violent crimes and drug distribution.
Roberto Cruz-Moreno, 23, of Woodbridge; Marvin Torres, 22, of Manassas; Kevin Perez-Sandoval, 25, of Warrenton; and Jose Rosales-Juarez, 32, of Manassas, were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 20 years for drug distribution, racketeering, and their roles in two attempted murders in Prince William County in 2019.
“These four individuals each played an integral part of a violent conspiracy that perpetuated bloodshed and struck fear into their communities,” said HSI Washington, D.C. Special Agent in Charge Derek W. Gordon. “As a result of their actions, they are serving decades in prison. HSI Washington, D.C. will continue to pursue relentlessly any case where national security or public safety are threatened.”
According to the joint investigation, Cruz-Moreno and Torres both held the rank of soldiers in the Guanacos Lil Cycos clique of MS‑13. Sandoval was a lower-level soldier and Juarez was an entry-level member of the same clique.
According to investigators, in March 2019, Cruz-Moreno picked up three other gang members and a victim and drove them to an isolated wooded area in Bristow, where one gang member shot the victim several times. Another stabbed him in the neck and attempted to slit his throat. The gang members believed the victim had disrespected MS-13 and associated with a rival gang. Following the attempted murder, Cruz-Moreno fled the scene, driving the three other participants to his residence.
In April 2019, law enforcement officers in Fairfax County found Cruz-Moreno in possession of a firearm and several grams of packaged cocaine. Three other gang members were traveling with him in his vehicle. Cruz-Moreno had been selling cocaine on behalf of the clique earlier that day.
In July 2019, Torres identified a rival gang member in Guanacos Lil Cycos‑controlled territory and provided fellow gang members with photos of the man. On Aug. 3 and 4, 2019, Rosales-Juarez surveilled the man at a restaurant in Manassas and discussed plans to kill him with the clique’s leader, Andy Tovar, 33, of White Post. Tovar is considered one of the highest-ranking MS-13 members in the United States.
According to the investigation, Tovar granted the clique permission to kill the rival gang member on Aug. 12, 2019. Later that day, Perez-Sandoval drove two members or associates of MS-13 to retrieve a firearm, a mask, and a change of clothes. He then returned to the victim’s location, where a member or associate of MS-13 shot him. Perez-Sandoval then drove the members or associates from the scene to Rosales-Juarez’s residence. Rosales-Juarez provided Perez-Sandoval with a different car to drive and rented a hotel room under his own name for the other two gang members involved.
In February 2022, Tovar pleaded guilty to each of the crimes with which he was charged, including engaging in conspiracies to murder another man in 2017. In July 2017, gang members traveled from Prince William County to Charlottesville to murder the man under Tovar’s authority because the clique believed he was a rival gang member. Following Tovar’s authorization, four gang members murdered the man by stabbing him more than 140 times with knives and a machete before they dumped his body in a creek, burned his car, and fled back to Prince William County. In September 2022, Tovar was sentenced to life in prison.
For their roles in the conspiracies, Cruz-Moreno and Perez-Sandoval were each sentenced to 20 years in prison. Torres and Rosalez-Juarez were each sentenced to 10 years in prison.
This investigation was conducted by HSI Washington, D.C., the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration in New York, the Albemarle County Police Department, the Manassas City Police Department, the Prince William County Police Department, and the Fairfax County Police Department with significant assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office.
Anyone with information regarding the illegal activities of street gangs or related crimes is encouraged to contact the HSI Tip Line at 866-DHS-2423 (866-347-2423). The HSI Tip Line is staffed 24 hours a day.
HSI is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of more than 8,700 employees consists of more than 6,000 special agents assigned to 237 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.
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