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Jilmer Hernandez-Alvarado, also known as “Toro,” 27, most recently of Hyattsville, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to extort business owners US District Attorney Erek Barron announced on Tuesday, Aug. 30.
“La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13 gang, is an international criminal enterprise that is active throughout the United States, including in Maryland,” officials said.
MS-13 in Maryland is organized into “cliques” of smaller groups operating in a specific area. Hernandez-Alvarado was a member of the Fulton clique of MS-13, according to Barron.
As part of his guilty plea, Hernandez-Alvadaro admitted that MS-13 generated income from various sources, including extorting money from businesses, such as unlicensed businesses which operated in the territory of the gang.
From at least February 2018 to December 2020, prosecutors said that Hernandez-Alvarado and other MS-13 members conspired to extort money or “rent” payments from Langley Park business owners through the threat of violence.
Each week, Hernandez-Alvarado and his co-conspirators demanded rent payments from business owners for operating in territory controlled by MS-13 and threatened to harm them if the payment was not made.
When he is sentenced in December, Hernandez-Alvarado faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the extortion conspiracy, prosecutors noted.
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