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Marvin Moralez, age 21, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Nassau County Court on Tuesday, Feb. 14, in the death of Daniel Garcia-Carbajal in Freeport.
Moralez was among several men who lured Garcia-Carbajal to Freeport’s Cow Meadow Park on March 1, 2021 by inviting him to hang out with girls, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. When Garcia-Carbajal entered the park, he was shot and killed with a single bullet to the head.
His body was found in the park the following day after relatives reported him missing, prosecutors said.
Investigators determined that Moralez and his four co-defendants targeted Garcia-Carbajal over his social media posts, for which they considered him an enemy of MS-13.
Two weeks after the killing, Moralez was riding in an SUV that was stopped by Nassau County Police for speeding through a parking lot in Hempstead. As an officer was approaching the vehicle, Moralez got out and pointed a loaded gun at the officer’s chest, according to prosecutors. He was arrested at the scene.
“In just two weeks in two separate incidents, Marvin Moralez helped lure a young man to his murder and pointed a loaded gun at the chest of a police officer,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement.
“This defendant, an alleged active member of MS-13, has consistently shown disregard for human life. With today’s plea our county is now a safer place.”
Moralez pleaded guilty to the following charges stemming from both incidents:
- Murder - 2nd degree (felony)
- Attempted murder - 1st degree (felony)
He is expected to get 23 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced in Nassau County Court on Thursday, March 16.
Cases against his co-defendants, Tulio Ayala, Manuel Aparicio Gomez, Kevin Torres, and Henry Canales, are pending in the death of Garcia-Carbajal.
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