Two MS-13 Gang Members Plead Guilty To Roles In Teen's Killing In Lynn
BOSTON (AP) — Two Massachusetts-based members of the violent Central American gang known as MS-13 have pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges, including their role in the 2018 killing of a teenage boy, federal prosecutors say.
Erick Lopez Flores, 31, of Lynn, and Marlos Reyes, 20, of Chelsea, pleaded guilty Tuesday in separate proceedings, according to a statement Wednesday from the U.S. attorney's office in Boston.
As part of their plea, they admitted that on July 30, 2018, they participated in the killing of the boy, whose body was found in a wooded area in Lynn days later, prosecutors said.
The victim suffered dozens of sharp force trauma wounds consistent with being stabbed numerous times. The investigation revealed that Lopez and others had lured the victim to the wooded park, where they murdered him because they did not believe he was sufficiently loyal to the group, prosecutors said.
Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 14, when they both face a possible sentence of life in prison.
Lopez Flores and Reyes belonged to the "Sykos Locos Salvatrucha" clique of MS-13, which operated in Lynn, Chelsea and other parts of Massachusetts, authorities said. They are two of six alleged MS-13 members arrested in October 2018.
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