Charges dropped for man arrested in Virginia, accused of being top MS-13 gang leader
The Brief
The charges against a man accused of being a top MS-13 gang leader have been dropped.
Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos, 24, was arrested in northern Virginia on Thursday, March 27.
He was taken into custody on an outstanding administrative immigration warrant and was later charged with illegal gun possession.
The DOJ filed a motion to dismiss without prejudice on Wednesday.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The Department of Justice on Wednesday moved to drop the charges against a man arrested in Virginia who they alleged was a top MS-13 gang leader.
The backstory
Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos, 24, was arrested in northern Virginia on Thursday, March 27.
A joint task force made up of FBI agents, Prince William County Police, ATF, ICE, and the Virginia State Police made the arrest. They said Santos was 'hiding' in the garage bedroom of his mother's Dale City home and that agents deployed a stun grenade to force him out.
Santos was taken into custody on an outstanding administrative immigration warrant and was later charged with illegal gun possession after several firearms were discovered during a search of the premises.
Information released by federal authorities stated that Santos had been in the United States for more than a decade, crossing the border illegally at age 14 to go live with his mom in Manassas. Court records said he had been under surveillance for allegedly directing gang activity.
Motion to dismiss
Santos was granted a dismissal without prejudice. That means the prosecution could potentially refile the same charges later — essentially suspending the case but not closing it.
Click to open this PDF in a new window.
What they're saying
At the time of the arrest, the Trump administration touted the operation as a significant step toward fulfilling its campaign promises to curb illegal immigration and dismantle gangs.
"Despite the tremendous success of this task force, I want the public to know that this is just the beginning of our efforts. We have a sense of urgency about this, and we do not plan on stopping until everyone of these violent gang members is off the streets," Erik Siebert, interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said at the time. "To the criminals I just have to say, we're coming."
FOX 5 asked his office for comment on Wednesday but they "respectfully" declined.
Dig deeper
Earlier this year, the Trump administration designated MS-13 — also known as Mara Salvatrucha — as a foreign terrorist organization, joining seven other Latin American criminal groups in that classification.
Mara Salvatrucha 13, or MS-13, is a transnational gang that originated in Los Angeles, and has since gained a grip on much of Central America. The American government blames violence generated by the group as a driver of migration to the U.S.
MS-13 was formed by Salvadoran immigrants that came to the United States in order to escape the civil war in their home country, according to the Justice Department. Some of its members were trained in guerilla warfare and the use of military weapons.
The gang is "well-organized and is heavily involved in lucrative illegal enterprises, being notorious for its use of violence to achieve its objectives," the Justice Department says.
Investigators say MS-13 is involved in trafficking stolen vehicles from the U.S. to Central America, and they're also known for human smuggling, weapons smuggling and illegal gun sales.
The Source
This report includes information from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, FOX 5 DC, Fox News, the Department of Justice and The Associated Press.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Marines arrive in LA under Trump orders as protests spread to other cities
By Brad Brooks, Jorge Garcia, Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Hundreds of U.S. Marines arrived in Los Angeles overnight and more were expected on Tuesday under orders from President Donald Trump, who has also activated 4,000 National Guard troops to quell protests despite objections from California Governor Gavin Newsom and other local leaders. The city has seen days of public outrage since the Trump administration launched a series of immigration raids on Friday, though local officials said the demonstrations on Monday were largely peaceful. About half of the roughly 700 Marines that Trump ordered to Los Angeles arrived on Monday night, and the remaining troops will enter the city on Tuesday, a U.S. official told Reuters. The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told KABC that more than 100 people had been arrested on Monday but that the majority of protesters were nonviolent. Over the weekend, protesters threw rocks and other objects at officers and vehicles and set several cars ablaze. Police responded by firing projectiles like pepper balls as well as flash bang grenades and tear gas. Trump has justified his decision to deploy active military troops to Los Angeles by describing the protests as a violent occupation of the city, a characterization that Newsom and Bass have said is grossly exaggerated. Newsom said that Trump's deployment of National Guard troops has only inflamed the situation and made it more difficult for local law enforcement to respond to the demonstrations. In a statement on Monday, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said the department had not been notified that any Marines were traveling to the city and that their possible arrival "presents a significant logistical and operational challenge" for police. Trump's decision to mobilize 700 Marines based in Southern California escalated his confrontation with Newsom, who filed a lawsuit on Monday asserting that Trump's deployment of Guard troops without the governor's consent was illegal. The Guard deployment was the first time in decades that a president activated the Guard absent a request from a sitting governor. While the Marines are only tasked with guarding federal property temporarily until the full contingent of 4,000 Guard troops arrives, the use of active military to respond to civil disturbances is extremely rare. "This isn't about public safety," Newsom wrote on X on Monday. "It's about stroking a dangerous President's ego." The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed, said he was "gravely troubled" by Trump's deployment of active-duty Marines. "Since our nation's founding, the American people have been perfectly clear: we do not want the military conducting law enforcement on U.S. soil," he said. In a post on Tuesday morning on Truth Social, Trump claimed Los Angeles would be "burning to the ground right now" if he had not deployed troops to the city. DEMONSTRATIONS AND ARRESTS The raids are part of Trump's sweeping immigration crackdown, which Democrats and immigrant advocates have said are indiscriminately breaking up families. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged on Monday to carry out more operations to round up suspected immigration violators. Trump officials have branded the protests as lawless and blamed state and local Democrats for protecting undocumented immigrants with sanctuary cities. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on Monday outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles where immigrants have been held, chanting "free them all" and waving Mexican and Central American flags. National Guard forces formed a human barricade to keep people out of the building, and late on Monday, police began dispersing the crowd using gas canisters and arrested some protesters. At dusk, officers had running confrontations with protesters who had scattered into the Little Tokyo section of the city. As people watched from apartment patios above street level and as tourists huddled inside hotels, a large contingent of LAPD and officers and sheriff's deputies fired several flash bangs that boomed through side streets along with tear gas. Protests spread to neighboring Orange County on Monday night after immigration raids there, with demonstrators gathering at the Santa Ana Federal building, according to local officials and news reports. Protests also sprang up in at least nine other U.S. cities on Monday, including New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco, according to local news reports. In Austin, Texas, police fired non-lethal munitions and detained several people as they clashed with a crowd of several hundred protesters.


New York Post
35 minutes ago
- New York Post
Fetterman rips ‘anarchy and true chaos' in LA, warns Dems not to cede ‘moral high ground'
Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has denounced the riots in Los Angeles and warned his party about the pitfalls of failing to adequately condemn the 'anarchy and true chaos. 'I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration—but this is not that,' Fetterman (D-Pa.) wrote on X on Monday evening. 'This is anarchy and true chaos. My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement.' Advertisement The Keystone State Dem included a photo of cars being scorched in a fiery blaze with a shirtless masked man waving a Mexican flag in the background. 3 President Trump has deployed several thousand National Guard troops to Los Angeles to try to help quell the violent protests over his illegal-immigration crackdown. Toby Canham for NY Post Advertisement 3 Sen. John Fetterman, a Dem from Pennsylvania, isn't mincing words about his condemnation of the riots in Los Angeles. Getty Images Around the time of his post, Fetterman was spotted at Butterworth's, a top MAGA hangout in Washington, DC — dining with Trump ally Steve Bannon and Breitbart's Matt Boyle, Politico Playbook reported. Tech mogul Elon Musk commended Fetterman's condemnation of the 'anarchy and true chaos' unfolding in LA, replying with an American flag emoji. Fetterman's post came amid a feud between President Trump and top California Democrats over the prez's decision to federalize the California National Guard and bring in troops to tame the unrest in Los Angeles. Advertisement Protesters had flooded the streets in droves Friday to demonstrate against the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts in the city. The ICE agents' targets have included a Home Depot in Paramount. 3 Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has stressed that the violent destructive rioting has largely been limited to downtown. Toby Canham for NY Post By Saturday, some of the demonstrations devolved into violent clashes with federal authorities in Compton and Paramount. The Trump administration mobilized another 2,000 troops to respond to the mayhem, after previously ordering an initial 2,000 troops to the region over the weekend. Trump's secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, said Monday he also was deploying 700 Marines to the area to help try to contain the chaos. Advertisement Top leadership in California, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass — both Democrats — slammed the GOP White House for the troop mobilization and pleaded with the public not to turn to violence to protest Trump's immigration policies. Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, also a Dem, filed a lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration seeking to void the president's memo to federalize the state's National Guard. Fetterman hasn't been afraid to punch the left in his own party, particularly when it comes to Israel. Near the end of the Biden administration, he had also favored measures to strengthen border security.

Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
A crypto CEO is accused of laundering $500 million to aid sanctioned Russian banks
The US Department of Justice charged the CEO of a cryptocurrency company with a money laundering scheme that helped clients with ties to Russian banks evade sanctions. An announcement from the department on Monday said that Iurii Gugnin, the CEO of Evita Pay, funneled $530 million of foreign payments through banks and crypto exchanges while concealing the purpose and the source of the transactions. "The defendant is charged with turning a cryptocurrency company into a covert pipeline for dirty money, moving over half a billion dollars through the U.S. financial system to aid sanctioned Russian banks and help Russian end-users acquire sensitive U.S. technology," John A. Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said. The scheme ran from June 2023 to January 2025, and involved processing payments of Tether — one of the biggest dollar-denominated stablecoins — for Russian clients linked to blacklisted banks including VTB and Sberbank. "To effectuate the scheme, Gugnin defrauded various banks and cryptocurrency exchanges through which he converted funds and made wire transfers," the DOJ statement said. "Gugnin repeatedly lied to these banks and exchanges, telling them that Evita did not conduct business with entities in Russia and did not deal with sanctioned entities." Gugnin was arrested in Manhattan on Monday and faces 22 counts related to wire and bank fraud, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, and failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering compliance program. The DOJ statement also says Gugnin's internet search queries included things like "how to know if there is an investigation against you," and "money laundering penalties US." If convicted, Gugnin could face life in prison, with a maximum of 30 years for each count of banks fraud, 20 years for each count of wire fraud, and 10 years for failing to implement anti-money laundering practices.