MS-13 gang member tells judge he's haunted by 2016 killing

A member of MS-13’s Freeport branch who helped stab a fellow gangster to death told a judge who sentenced him Thursday to 25 years in prison that he was haunted by what he had done.

"Years have gone by but I still have nightmares about that day. … I see it again and again," said Jerlin Villalta, 24, of Brentwood.

U.S. Circuit Judge Joseph Bianco called the 2016 murder of Jose Pena-Hernandez in the woods near an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Brentwood "a premeditated, brutal execution" while meting out the sentence.

Villalta previously pleaded guilty to racketeering while admitting his role in the 18-year-old’s murder, along with a conspiracy to distribute marijuana on Long Island and elsewhere.

"I never thought I would stab somebody. … I will regret it for the rest of my life," Villalta, who immigrated from El Salvador, also said as a Spanish language interpreter translated his words in a Central Islip courtroom.

The judge said he considered Villalta’s remorse when deciding his sentence, but also the "barbaric act" he took part in with other gang members and the loss that the victim's mother suffered.

"This is a gang that Mr. Villalta chose to join knowing that his only purpose was to kill," Bianco said as about a dozen of the defendant’s relatives listened, some dabbing tears.

The discovery of Pena-Hernandez's body four months after his slaying on June 3, 2016, helped fuel outrage on Long Island about MS-13 violence.

Authorities unearthed his skeletal remains a month after what federal prosecutors have alleged was a separate attack by MS-13 members in September 2016 that took the lives of Brentwood High School students Kayla Cuevas, 16, and Nisa Mickens, 15.

In Pena-Hernandez's case, prosecutors have said fellow MS-13 members turned on him because they suspected he was gay and that he had cooperated with police – violations of the gang’s rules that are punishable by death.

Suffolk police had arrested Villalta and two other MS-13 members after a January 2016 shooting near the Brentwood library. Later, one of gangsters told other MS-13 members after all three got out on bail that he thought Pena-Hernandez might have helped police, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Prosecutors said gang members consulted with MS-13 leadership in El Salvador before getting a car they used to take Pena-Hernandez to the location of the attack and the weapons they used to carry out the deadly violence.

Federal prosecutor Paul Scotti said in court Thursday that Pena-Hernandez's slaying "was especially depraved and cruel" while asking for a sentence for the defendant at the high end of the recommended federal guidelines of about 24 to 30 years in prison.

"His remorse now does nothing for Mr. Pena … a significant sentence is warranted," Scotti said of Villalta.

Villalta’s indictment included charges against more than two dozen people with alleged MS-13 affiliations, for crimes including 18 slayings in New York’s Eastern District – Pena-Hernandez’s murder among them – between 2013 and 2017.

Eastern District Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said in a statement Thursday that the sentence "holds the defendant to account for his vicious stabbing of the victim" and that it was "fitting" Villalta would spend decades behind bars.

Villalta’s defense attorney, Bruce Barket, asked Thursday for a sentence of 15 years in prison for his client.

He said while Villalta took part in the "horrific" crime, it wasn’t Villalta’s idea and he also didn’t order it.

Barket said Villalta worked in construction after coming to the United States, had been seeking citizenship and sent $500 to his family in El Salvador every month to help support his mother and a brother with cerebral palsy.

"The gang has this power to seduce … young boys into this kind of criminal conduct," the attorney added.

Villalta also told the judge Thursday he knew his apology wouldn’t bring Pena-Hernandez back. But he added that he still hopes God, the victim’s family and his own family will forgive him.

"Maybe then, the nightmares will stop," Villalta added.