DA: Roosevelt man sentenced to 24 years to life in 2 alleged MS-13 gang killings

A Nassau judge has sentenced an alleged MS-13 member to 24 years to life in prison for his role in the gang killings of two victims whose remains authorities found buried in the woods.

Kevin Lopez-Morales, 23, of Roosevelt, previously admitted to a role in the slayings of Angel Soler, 15, and Josue Amaya Leonor, 19, according to court proceedings Tuesday.

The defendant didn’t speak in court, but acting State Supreme Court Justice Patricia Harrington noted while sentencing him that he had expressed remorse for his actions. He pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in 2019, according to prosecutors.

Both victims were from Roosevelt and a coalition of local and federal law enforcement officials separately uncovered their bodies in wooded areas of Long Island’s South Shore after each went missing – one in 2016 and one in 2017.

Authorities have said previously that the victims became targets because of MS-13’s belief that they may have been part of the rival 18th Street gang.

Lopez-Morales is from El Salvador and a member of MS-13’s Hollywood clique, according to law enforcement officials.

Police said previously that authorities confronted the defendant while he was in custody on an immigration hold in 2018 before charging him in the homicide cases after he "made some incriminating statements."

Authorities found Amaya Leonor’s remains in May 2018 in Roosevelt Preserve, nearly two years after he went missing.

Law enforcement officials found Soler’s body in October 2017 buried in cement in woods on the border of Roosevelt and Baldwin, nearly three months after he went missing.

Authorities have said the gang hacked both victims to death.

Three other alleged MS-13 members already have been sentenced in connection with Soler’s slaying and a murder case remains pending against a fifth defendant, according to prosecutors.

Authorities said charges also remain pending in Nassau County against two other defendants in Amaya Leonor’s slaying.

Lopez-Morales’ attorney, Michael Elbert, declined to comment after his client’s sentencing Tuesday.

Nassau Acting District Attorney Joyce Smith said in a statement that "Lopez-Morales and his co-defendants acted as friends to two young men but lured them to their deaths over perceived slights to MS-13."

She added: "MS-13 has left behind many grieving families on Long Island, but their attempts to destroy our community have not and will not be successful."