Thread: Three suspects held in burned body investigation (MS-13)

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/state/artic ... 60,00.html

Three suspects held in burned body investigation
By Associated Press
August 21, 2006


CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Two adults and one juvenile are in federal custody and being questioned by authorities investigating a body found inside a burning car in Polk County.

Edwin Daniel Almenderez-Ulloa, 19, and Cesar O’Hara Ortiz, 25, are being held by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigrations and Customs Enforcement unit as suspects in the case. The unidentified juvenile will turn 18 in December.

The juvenile has been taken into custody and is pending arraignment for accessory to felony homicide after the fact, according to TBI agent Jim Moore.

The victim has not been positively identified, and TBI officials will not release a name until verifications through forensic DNA analysis is complete.

Cherokee National Forest tourists discovered the charred remains Aug. 7 in the mountains of Polk County. Investigators could not say whether the murder occurred in Cleveland or Polk County.

Officials said they believe that a Latin American gang, called MS-13, might be involved in the incident.

Boy....plain old murders are going to become a forensic nightmare. Burned bodies, be-headed bodies, quartered bodies....bodies with their teeth pulled out to aid in not being able to identify them....

South of the border tricks of the trade. None of the good family values people do this stuff ofcourse.

http://www.newschannel9.com

Members Of Violent Latino Gang Thought To Be Connected With Recent Murder
John Pless
August 21,2006
A gang called MS-13 got its start in El Salvador and for years has been making its presence known in the United States.
In Tennessee two men who say they are members of the notorious gang are being questioned after a burned body was found August 7 in Polk County.

And it appears there may be a connection to Bradley County as well. Cleveland Police are keeping an eye on the violent Mara Salvatrucha gang, also known as MS-13 and MS, that appears to have settled there in recent months.

The F.B.I. says MS-13 is extremely dangerous and just last year formed a task force to deal exclusively with the rapidly growing gang.

Cleveland resident Lakesia Thompson said "you can't just burn somebody up and say 'we are the gang and we're affiliated with the gang and we're cool.' Well no, it ain't cool in the USA!"

Thompson said some Latinos in her east Cleveland neighborhood are now affiliated with MS-13.

The gang was known by federal authorities to be mostly in western and northern states but that's changing according to Cleveland Police.

Lieutenant Ken Simpson said "we know there's a presence here, but just how large a presence we're not real sure of yet."

Members wear white and blue, the colors of El Salvadors' flag, and endure a brutal initiation ritual. New members are severely beaten for 13 seconds, and some new female members are sexually assualted by numerous male members according to F.B.I. reports.

Known to use machetes for murders and dismembering body parts, MS-13 is in the illegal drug, gun and human slave trade. Members who smuggle illegal immigrants across the U.S. border are known as "Coyotes," according to Lt. Simpson.

Reports show members are mostly illegals from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico and operate in a business-like fashion much like the traditional mafia.

A recent report by the Washington Times says MS-13 has threatened to kill "Minutement" militia members who are setting up their own patrols along U.S. borders. The report says MS-13 is angered by increased patrols along the U.S.-Mexican border because they threaten to curtail their illegal trades.

We found evidence of Latino gang activity, including MS-13, on the east side of Cleveland. There's gang graffiti spray painted on old buildings in areas where some residents feel intimidated to talk about MS-13.

Lt. Simpson said graffiti is used to identify a gangs' "turf."

But Ms. Thompson said "we ain't scared of them, we walk to the store if we got to. And if they're gonna kill one of us...oh, they try but they ain't gonna get us, you know. Because when we roll just like them, when they roll, we're rolling past too and if they hit one they got to hit us all because we're related, you hear me?"

Jennifer Johnson with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said shortly after the mans' body was found in a burned Toyota August 7 in the Cherokee National Forest investigators developed leads on three local Latinos, who are now in custody.

Two of them told police they are members of MS-13.

"And we can also substantiate some of those claims with things we found on their person such as colors, photos and other paraphernalia that would be consistent with the MS-13 gang," Johnson said.

This latest case has the attention of Cleveland Police.

"It's a matter of time before they [MS-13] get deeply involved in narcotics trafficking," Lt. Simpson added.

And that's unsettling for people like Lakeshia Thompson. "I don't like it, they need to go back where they came from," Thompson said.

T.B.I. investigators do not think the Polk County victim was a member of MS-13 and they're not saying what the motive for the killing might be. They think they know who he was but they're not releasing his name.

As for the three Hispanic suspects, 19-year-old Edwin Daniel Almenderez-Ulloa and 25-year-old Cesar O'Hara Ortiz are being held under federal warrants by U.S. Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Johnson said they are illegal immigrants and will be held until a grand jury meets in September to consider felony charges related to the killing.

The 17-year-old Hispanic juvenile has been charged with being an accessory to felony homicide and is being held at Bradley County's Youth Detention Center. He faces a hearing to have the case transfered to Criminal Court.

Lt. Simpson said police do not know how many MS-13 members are in Cleveland or southeast Tennessee because most are illegal, move from city to city and are hard to find.

Just last year an F.B.I. task force was set up specifically to target MS-13 gang activity nationwide.

Reports show the gang was formed in El Salvador in the early 1980s' during civil unrest that the United States was involved with. Many got para-military training during the fight between Contras and Sandinistas.

Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, began forming cells in Los Angeles and southwestern states during the late 1980's. It also has a strong presence in Virginia, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Federal agents believe the group is trying to organize on an international level. They say there are about 50,000 members in the U.S. in at least 33 states.

http://www.wrcbtv.com/news/index.cfm?sid=2920

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MS-13 Gang Members Involved in Polk County Murder


Reported Will Carr

Three suspects were arrested in connection with a body found in Polk County's national park. And at least two admitted they're members of MS-13. Police say the gang MS-13 might not be as commonly known as the Blood and the Crips. But they say MS-13's are dangerous and they're here.

"We know there's a presence here. How big and how wide spread, I don't know yet," says Lt. Ken Simpson, with the Cleveland Police Department.

Simpson says the gang MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, is in Tennessee.

This comes after Cesar Ortiz, Edwin Almenderez-Ulloa and a minor were arrested in connection with a body found in Polk County. Police say Ulloa and the minor admitted to being members of MS-13.

"These groups exist and they're here. It's not something that's occurring in California or New York...it's here," Simpson says.

Simpson says there's been a lot of gang activity around the Cherokee national forest. He says MS-13 members identify themselves with tattoos and graffiti.

Simpson also says MS-13 members typically use knives but also use guns, and they aren't shy about their affiliation.

"MS-13 gang members tend to be proud and very blatant with the fact that they're gang members," says Simpson.

Police say MS-13's are dangerous and are known to behead people, and their criminal activity will not be tolerated.

"We want the message to ring out clear that this, Eastern Tennessee is not a place for gang members," says Simpson.

The victim in this case was found in a car back on August 7th, and is not believed to be involved with MS-13.


Click here to contact Will Carr

I guess the people of Polk county will get an education of the devastating effects of MS-13. It is only the beginning.

added to homepage

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You can thank our do nothing president!

Boy, I sure feel safe! Thanks for frisking me at the airport and leaving the border wide open so individuals like this are roaming free...

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Burned Body Suspects Go to Court



Immigration agents transported 19 year old Cesar Ortiz and 25 year old Edwin Almenderez-Ulloa of Honduras to the Polk County jail.

The two suspects along with a 17 year old are accused of robbing a Polk County man, and leaving his body in a burning car in the Cherokee National Forest. Investigators tell Channel 3 Eyewitness News they found the body after eyewitnesses discovered the burning car which was still smoldering when detectives arrived.

As TBI officials helped book Ortiz and Ulloa in the jail on murder and robbery charges, we asked Ulloa what happened.

When we asked Ortiz, he told Eyewitness News nothing but added he was listening to the television and reading the newspaper and believes police are investigating them because they are members of MS-13 but he's not sure.

Investigators have i-d'd them as members of the gang MS-13, which is known for brutal murders.

A Polk County judge arraigned the 17-year-old also involved in this case on a first degree murder charge, while jailers processed the other two.

Ortiz and Ulloa are expected to arraigned September 11th. As for the juvenile, he'll be transferred to adult court September 27th.