MS-13 member get 2 years for illegally entering U.S.

A federal judge yesterday sentenced a member of the violent MS-13 street gang to two years in prison for illegally entering the country after being deported in 2003.

Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Jaime Ricardo Guzman, 25, in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.

Guzman, whose gang name was “Spider,” will be deported for a second time after completing his sentence. He had been living in Rockville before he was taken into custody July 29 on several charges.

Prosecutors accused Guzman of plotting acts of violence during meetings of MS-13, a gang operating in the United States whose members are generally from El Salvador.

“MS-13 is a particular problem in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.,” U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said.

Guzman was deported to El Salvador on April 25, 2003. He originally gained entry to the United States in 1999 by paying a smuggler $3,000 to get him across the U.S.-Mexico border, according to court documents.

It is not clear how he got back into the country after being deported in 2003.

“We don’t know where he came back, but we do know most likely he did so on the southern border,” Mr. Rosenstein said.

His sentencing occurred four months after fellow gang member Henry Villanueva, 19, formerly of Silver Spring, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for re-entering the country after being deported.

Villanueva, whose gang name was “Snooper,” also was accused of plotting violent criminal acts. U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced him Feb. 16.

“These defendants were not just routine illegal aliens who had entered the country illegally,” Mr. Rosenstein said.

After his arrest by Montgomery County authorities, Guzman was charged with making a false statement to a police officer, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

County prosecutors signed a legal order that allowed the case to be turned over to the federal government for pursuit of the deportation violation.

Guzman was transferred to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last Aug. 4.