FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A Fairfax County man has been sentenced to life in federal prison on several charges related to racketeering conspiracies and murder.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Maryland, 29-year-old Jose Henry Hernandez-Garcia was convicted on murder and racketeering conspiracy charges connected to alleged involvement in La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, on Dec. 16, 2022 along with two co-defendants from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.
According to court documents, Hernandez-Garcia and his co-defendants were members and associates of the Los Ghettos Criminales Salvatruchas clique of MS-13 and attended a meeting with other members on March 8, 2019.
During the meeting, a member was questioned about their suspected cooperation with law enforcement and attacked by Hernandez-Garcia, his two co-defendants and at least one other member.
One of the co-defendants, the leader of the clique, then ordered the member to be killed and they were fatally stabbed. According to testimony, the leader then ordered Hernandez-Garcia and other members to conceal and destroy evidence of the murder.
Hernandez-Garcia and other members stayed at the crime scene cleaning the victim’s blood and attempting to destroy other evidence while one of his co-conspirators drove the victim’s body to Stafford County, where he and other members set the body on fire.
The leader of the clique was sentenced to life in federal prison on March 6 and the third co-defendant is also facing a mandatory life sentence.
