A Honduran man pleaded guilty to “use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence resulting in the death of another” for his participation in a murder committed as part of a gang initiation for two recruits of La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13.
Yerwin Ivan Hernandez-Ordonez, aka Probador, 31, a Honduran national, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate David J. Novak in the Eastern District of Virginia.
In his plea agreement, Hernandez-Ordonez admitted that he aided two MS-13 recruits to murder a victim so the recruits could gain entrance into MS-13. Specifically, Hernandez-Ordonez admitted that on July 23, 2011, he and members of the Richmond Sailors clique of MS-13 decided the killing of the rival gang member would be the initiation rite for two MS-13 recruits. The leader chose Hernandez-Ordonez and a co-conspirator gang member to ensure the recruits carried out the murder. Later that night and into the early morning hours of July 24, 2011, the recruits drove the victim to an area near the 8200 block of Riverside Drive in Richmond. One of the recruits then attempted to shoot the victim, but the gun misfired. An MS-13 member then shot the victim with another gun, but did not kill him. When the victim attempted to flee, Hernandez-Ordonez chased the victim down and brought him back to the group, and thereafter, the two recruits shot the victim in the head and killed him. Later that same day, the two recruits were initiated into the gang.
Jose Armando Bran, aka Pantro, the leader of MS-13’s Sailors Locos Salvatrucha clique in Richmond, was found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, murder, maiming and use of a firearm during a crime of violence in death on May 20, 2013. Bran was sentenced in Aug. 15, 2013, to serve two consecutive life sentences plus 120 months for his role in the same murder and a separate maiming that he ordered while he was an MS-13 gang leader in Richmond.
