MS-13 gang member found guilty in Pilgrim Psychiatric Center attack on teen in January 2024, Suffolk DA says
The abandoned Pilgrim State Mental Facility in Brentwood, where MS-13 gang members attacked a 15-year-old boy, leaving him for dead, in January 2024, according to the Suffolk District Attorney's Office. Credit: SCDA
A Suffolk County jury on Friday convicted an MS-13 gang member of nine violent felony charges for his role in an attack that almost killed a teenage boy in Brentwood last year, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.
Yeison Chavez Campos, 23, is the last of seven MS-13 members convicted of the January 2024 attack, when the group beat, stabbed and used a brick to bludgeon a 15-year-old boy at the abandoned Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in Brentwood, District Attorney Raymond Tierney said in a statement.
Chavez Campos was convicted on six assault felonies, one kidnapping charge and two robbery charges on Friday. He faces 25 years "on each of the top counts, which are eligible to be run consecutively to each other," the statement said.
"MS-13 has no place in Suffolk County," Tierney said in the Saturday news release. "The actions of this defendant and his MS-13 co-defendants on a 15-year-old boy will not be tolerated."
Chavez Campos also faces deportation after his sentence is served, the DA’s statement said. It’s unclear where he is from, but he resided in Huntington Station before the attack.
He and the six other gang members — all of whom have been convicted — were part of the "Huntington Criminal Locates Salvatrucha" branch of MS-13, according to the Tierney's office.
On Jan. 6, 2024, the group lured their 15-year-old victim to a Huntington train station, where they robbed and beat the boy before forcing him into their vehicle.
They drove the boy to the abandoned psychiatric center, where the gang members smashed a brick over the teenager's head and stabbed him in the neck before leaving him to die, according to the Suffolk district attorney. But when the group returned to the center hours later to bury the boy’s body, he was not there.
"Miraculously, the victim lived through the assault. He regained consciousness, found a way out of the building and walked to a nearby road where he collapsed. A short time later he was found by a good Samaritan who called 911," the statement said.
The 15-year-old was taken to a hospital for surgery on injuries that included brain bleeding and a fractured skull, the statement said.
The victim "ultimately survived his injuries," according to the district attorney.
Newsday could not immediately reach Chavez Campos’ attorney for comment on Saturday morning. He is due back in court on Aug. 20 for sentencing.
Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.
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