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Hempstead resident Samuel Ponce, also known as “Little Chickie” pleaded guilty this week to second-degree murder for his role in the murder of a Uniondale teenager in the Massapequa Park Preserve in 2016.
Acting Nassau County District Attorney Joyce Smith said that the maximum sentence for Ponce is 15 years to life in prison because at the time of the murder he was 15 years old.
Ponce is expected to be sentenced to a term of nine years to life in prison when he returns to court on Wednesday, Aug. 25. The District Attorney’s Office has recommended a sentence of 11 years to life in prison.
Smith said that on Aug. 23, 2016, Ponce’s victim, Bryan Steven Cho Lemus, a perceived enemy of MS-13, was walking his dog on Arthur Street in Uniondale when he was lured into the Massapequa Preserve.
While inside the park, Lemus was allegedly killed with machetes by Ponce and other members of MS-13.
Lemus’ body was found on May 24, 2019, in a shallow grave inside the Massapequa Preserve by members of the Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Bureau during a canvass of the area.
Ponce was arrested by the NCPD on September 17, 2019, following the investigation
“Bryan Lemus was just 18 years old when he was viciously attacked and violently murdered with machetes by the defendant and multiple MS-13 members,” Smith said in a statement.
“The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office has for years been committed to prosecuting the brutal crimes of members of MS-13, to rid gang violence from the streets of Nassau County and secure justice for the victims and their families.”
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