Friday, June 13, 2008
Murder suspect has gang ties, is illegal immigrant
by Sebastian Montes | Staff Writer


The 18-year-old charged Thursday with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of a Montgomery Village waiter is an illegal immigrant with ties to the El Salvadorian gang MS-13, according to testimony during a bond hearing Friday and police.


The public defender for Manuel Antonio Barahona of Gaithersburg asked that his client be held without bond. Given that Barahona has a deportation warrant against him, if he was released on bond, federal agents would arrest him and transport him to a federal facility, said Samuel Delgado, the public defender.
Montgomery County District Court Judge Patricia L. Mitchell agreed.

Speaking in Spanish via closed-circuit television from the Montgomery County Detention Center in Rockville, Barahona repeatedly asked for bond.

‘‘I need bond. I have family. I have a brother. I have to work,â€