Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia
A Salvadoran national and member of the gang MS-13, Henry Leonel Barrera Ayala, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for his involvement in a criminal enterprise that included three murders. The sentencing took place in Alexandria, Virginia.
Court documents reveal that on August 25, 2018, Barrera Ayala and other members of the MS-13 Uniones Locos Salvatrucha clique conspired to murder an associate identified as K.A.C. in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The group believed K.A.C. had betrayed them and received approval from MS-13 leadership in El Salvador for the murder. After dining together at an MS-13 member's residence, Barrera Ayala and co-conspirators killed K.A.C., dismembered the body, and buried it near New Bedford.
In June 2019, Barrera Ayala participated in another conspiracy with ULS members to kill individuals gathering in Reston. On June 23 of that year, armed with firearms and machetes, they murdered J.L.G.M., shooting him and using a machete.
On September 17, 2020, Barrera Ayala helped devise a plan to lure I.J.P.G., believed to be associated with a rival gang and who disparaged MS-13 online. Pretending to be from a rival gang via Snapchat messages, Barrera Ayala arranged for her abduction and subsequent murder by shooting on Colts Neck Road in Reston.
Beyond these murders, Barrera Ayala also engaged in drug distribution activities involving marijuana and cocaine. He sent profits from these operations through money transfer services within the United States and Central America to support the MS-13 organization.
Barrera Ayala pled guilty on September 18, 2024, to conspiracy charges related to racketeering. Meanwhile, his accomplice Elmer De Jesus Alas Candray was convicted by a federal jury on October 21, 2024. Alas Candray received six concurrent life sentences on January 30 for his participation in multiple murders.
The announcement of these sentences came from Erik S. Siebert (U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia), Sean Ryan (Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division), and Kevin Davis (Fairfax County Chief of Police). U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff delivered the sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Blanchard, Megan Braun, and Natasha Smalky prosecuted this case under an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation aimed at dismantling high-level criminal organizations threatening national security.
Further details can be accessed through official court websites or PACER by searching Case No. 1:22-cr-178.
