Maryland

Per the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis today sentenced Jose Rafael Ortega-Ayala, a/k/a “Impaciente,” age 30, of Greenbelt, Maryland, to life in federal prison for racketeering and murder in aid of racketeering conspiracies, for committing murder in aid of racketeering, and for conspiracy to destroy and conceal evidence connected to his participation in La Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational criminal enterprise also known as MS-13.  The charges related to the murder of a victim believed to be cooperating with law enforcement and the subsequent cover-up of the murder.  Ortega-Ayala was convicted on December 16, 2022, after a two-week trial, along with co-defendants Jose Domingo Ordonez-Zometa, a/k/a “Felon,” age 33, of Landover Hills, Maryland and Jose Henry Hernandez-Garcia, a/k/a “Paciente,” age 29, of Annandale, Virginia.

According to evidence presented at trial, MS-13, one of the largest street gangs in the United States, is a national and international gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants from El Salvador and other central American countries.  Branches or “cliques” of MS-13, operate throughout the United States, including in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.  Ortega-Ayala and his co-defendants were members and associates of the Los Ghettos Criminales Salvatruchas (“LGCS” or “Ghettos”) clique of MS-13.

Per the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland – A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Jalen Thomas Kelley, age 21, of Abingdon, Maryland, for aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse and assault within the territorial jurisdiction. Kelley was arrested by the FBI Charlotte Field Office in Wingate, North Carolina, on September 20, 2023.

According to the indictment, between January 1, 2023 and January 2, 2023, the defendant engaged in a sexual act by force and assaulted Victim 1 without consent on board a cruise vessel Carnival Legend, which had a scheduled departure from and an arrival in Baltimore, Maryland.

Per the Office of the U.S. Attorney, District of Maryland –Kosi Goodness Simon-Ebo, age 29, a Nigerian national residing in South Africa, pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering (with co-conspirators in Maryland), related to a business email compromise (“BEC”) scheme with intended losses of the conspiracy of more than $6 million.  Simon-Ebo arrived in the United States on April 12, 2023, after being extradited from Canada.

According to his plea agreement, from February 2017 until at least July 2017, Simon-Ebo conspired with others to perpetrate a BEC scheme.  Specifically, Simon-Ebo and his co-conspirators, including co-conspirators residing in Maryland, gained unauthorized access to email accounts associated with individuals and businesses targeted by the conspirators and sent false wiring instructions to the victims’ email accounts from “spoofed” emails, which are emails with forged sender addresses, to deceive the victims into sending money to bank accounts controlled by perpetrators of the scheme, called “drop accounts.”