http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?secti ... id=4363552

MS-13 Gang Members Arrested
By Gilbert Baez
(07/13/06 -- CLINTON) - Nine members of the notorious MS-13 gang are behind bars as investigators warn gang problems are spreading to rural areas.

The suspects are accused of stealing thousands of dollars of merchandise from a convenience store in Duplin County and binding two customers with duct tape during the robbery. Authorities say they may be linked to a murder in Wallace.

Sgt. Ricky Mattocks is a gang investigator with the Sampson County Sheriff's Office. He says MS-13 is growing and moving into rural areas.

"We actually caught a group that had robbed.. 10 or 12 stores, businesses, armed robberies," he said.

Sheriff Jimmy Thornton says gang graffiti is popping up across Sampson County and there has been an increase on Hispanic-on-Hispanic crime. Thornton says many suspects have tattoos that tell violent stories.

"He had what appeared to be like a spider web tattoo on his left shoulder," he said. "He had the little tear drop on the left-hand corner of his eye and that usually indicates him having murdered someone."

Many people assume gangs are confined to cities, but that has changed for a simple reason, Mattocks said.

"They think they can set up their gangs in these rural areas and really get by with more," he said. "They don't think that the small-town departments have the sophistication and the ability or the personnel to handle what they're coming in here with."