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Miguel Urias Argueta, 20, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision after being convicted by a jury in March of various charges that include attempted murder.
Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said that on March 8, Argueta was found guilty of attempted murder, criminal use of a firearm, attempted assault, criminal use of a firearm, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and attempted assault, all felonies or violent felonies.
On April 30, 2017, at approximately 12:30 a.m., Argueta’s teenage victim and a friend were smoking a cigarette outside a home on Dover Street in Westbury. Argueta and his cohorts, brothers Jose and Fidel Hernandez, rode by the two on bikes three times before coming back to the scene where their victim was smoking.
Singas said that “Fidel Hernandez asked the victim and his friend what they were laughing at – and the victim told them he could laugh at whatever he wanted. Fidel Hernandez then told them ‘the beast is going to take you’ – an MS-13 reference meaning you are going to die.”
After making that statement, Hernandez took out a machete that he swung several times at his victim, ripping his shirt and cutting his torso. At the same time, Argueta, wielding a knife, tried to stab his victim while Jose Hernandez took out a gun and fired several shots at the two as they ran away.
According to Singas, all the shots missed the teenager, who knew Argueta from school. The attack was following a year of threats made by Argueta and Hernandez after their victim refused to join MS-13 and had to drop out of school due to the gang’s intimidation.
Following an investigation by Nassau County Police detectives, all three men were arrested on May 2, 2017. Jose Hernandez was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts f attempted murder. Fidel Hernandez was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a weapon.
“The defendants in this case specifically targeted and attempted to murder a young man who refused to join MS-13,” Singas said. “It is a miracle that the victim survived after being attacked with a knife, gun, and machete. I am thankful to our law enforcement partners, including the NCPD’s Gang Investigation Squad, for helping to bring these defendants to justice.”
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