Defendant in Murder-For-Hire Conspiracy Sentenced to Life in Prison

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Postal Inspector in Charge Damon E. Wood of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service – Washington Division; and Chief Malik Aziz of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

According to court documents and the evidence presented at his trial, Navarro was an associate of co-defendant Miguel Angel Ayala Rivera, the leader of the Pinos Locos Salvatrucha clique La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13 gang (“MS-13”) and co-defendant Miguel Antonio Renderos, whom Navarro knew from El Salvador.  In November 2016, Renderos was looking for someone to murder Victim 1 in exchange for $10,000.  Navarro introduced Renderos to Ayala Rivera, who agreed to commit the murder.

The evidence presented at trial proved that Renderos wanted Victim 1 to be killed because in 2012, after Renderos allowed the victim to move into the basement of Renderos’s home, Victim 1 began to have a romantic relationship with Renderos’s wife.  With Navarro serving as the middleman between Renderos and Ayala Rivera, the defendants exchanged phone calls to arrange the murder.

As detailed at trial and in court documents, between November 1 and November 30, 2016, Navarro paid for a hotel room for Ayala Rivera and another MS-13 member, Luis Cruz Hernandez, at a hotel in College Park.  During that time, Ayala Rivera, Navarro and Cruz Hernandez conducted surveillance of Victim 1 in and around Victim 1’s residence.  On November 30, 2016, Navarro drove Ayala Rivera and Cruz Hernandez to Victim 1’s residence, where Ayala Rivera shot and killed Victim 1.  After the murder, Navarro drove Ayala Rivera and Cruz Hernandez to collect payment from Renderos for the murder of Victim 1.

Co-defendants Miguel Angel Ayala Rivera, age 28, of Silver Spring, Maryland, and Miguel A. Renderos, age 48, of Hyattsville, Maryland, each pleaded guilty to their roles in the murder-for-hire and are awaiting sentencing.  In a related case, Luis Cruz Hernandez, age 28, of Silver Spring, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to his role in the murder-for-hire and was sentenced to 51 years in federal prison.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.