The Department of Justice reported Tuesday a “ranking member of a San Fernando Valley-based wing of the transnational criminal organization Mara Salvatrucha 13” was sentenced to life in prison for a pair of murders in the nearby Angeles National Forest.
Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. sentenced Walter Chavez Larin, aka “Delito,” 27, of Panorama City, for the murders of Oscar Fuentes, and another man, identified in court records only as “E.H.”
The crimes committed on behalf of MS-13 demonstrated the brutality of the criminal organization, based on details shared in a DOJ statement announcing the sentence. Murder was a requirement in order to move up in the gang’s hierarchy.
Larin, who had several aliases, was identified as a leader of MS-13’s Fulton clique.
The Fuentes murder was uncovered in October 2019 by county employees who were surveying the burn scar from the Tick Fire.
The Tick Fire, which started about 10 months after Fuentes’ murder, burned 4,615 acres of a largely remote area north of State Route 14, west of Vasquez Rocks.
Fuentes’ skeleton was found near the intersection of Sand Canyon Road and Thompson Ranch Drive, according to Homicide Bureau officials around the time of the discovery.
Chavez put a “green light” on Fuentes, according to DOJ officials, which meant he should be killed for disobeying the gang’s rules. Previous reports indicated that Fuentes left the gang after becoming addicted to methamphetamine.
Fuentes was taken from a North Hollywood park to Santa Clarita where he was executed by MS-13 members, including Edwin Martinez, Carlos Daniel Orellana Gonzalez and Yefri Revelo, under the direction of Chavez.
The evidence shared by the DOJ indicated that Larin gave an associate a .38-caliber handgun and orders to kill their former associate.
The man identified as E.H. faced a much grislier ending, according to the DOJ.
“The victim was taken to Angeles National Forest, where he was stabbed and hacked to death. Several MS-13 members tried decapitating him but found it too difficult,” the DOJ statement indicated. “They doused the body with rubbing alcohol under the belief it destroyed forensic evidence. After murdering E.H., they eventually threw the victim’s body over a ridge.”
Three of Chavez’s co-defendants had already been sentenced for their respective roles.
Orellana Gonzalez was found guilty of committing a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, conspiracy in the murder. Blumenfeld sentenced him to 405 months, or 33 years and nine months, in federal prison on April 7. A jury found Martinez guilty of four counts, and Blumenfeld sentenced him to a term of life imprisonment on Aug. 25.
Revelo filed a Sept. 23 motion to delay his sentencing until Dec. 15.
The DOJ and the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office worked together on the cases, a yearslong effort that has resulted in 34 convictions.
“These convictions mark one of the most significant victories against MS-13’s Los Angeles network in decades,” L.A. County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement last year. “I applaud the jury for their dedication and bravery in finding these individuals guilty of the brutal murders, extortion and drug trafficking they have inflicted on our communities for years.”
