MS-13 gang member gets 32 years to life in prison for role in four Nassau killings

MS-13 gang member Raul Ponce got his punishment Tuesday for his role in the gang killings of four people in Nassau County in just 10 months: a sentence of 32 years-to-life in prison.

Grief was palpable in a Mineola courtroom as family of two of the victims, Bryan Steven Cho Lemus, 18, of Uniondale and Osmin Campos-Sandoval, 19, of Hempstead, shared what it was like to wait years for answers about their loved ones’ disappearances before their remains were found in the woods.

Lemus’ mother wiped away tears as prosecutor Jared Rosenblatt read a statement in which the woman called herself a broken-hearted mother who was asking for justice after a senseless crime.

"The thought of imagining the way he was tortured, the way he was brutally killed with machetes and knives, only you and your friends and God know what else was used to take my son’s life away," Amanda Lemus, 45, told Ponce in her statement. "…With the same hands you buried him and put dirt on top of him, you destroyed my life."

Rosenblatt’s own voice broke as he then described "unspeakable acts of violence" he said Ponce, 23, of Hempstead, committed with fellow gang members.

Prosecutors have said the gang targeted the victims because they were perceived as enemies of MS-13, because they disrespected the criminal syndicate or because they fell victim to the gang’s unprovoked pattern of brutality.

First was the slaying of Campos-Sandoval, who went missing June 1, 2016 and whose remains detectives discovered in Uniondale woods in October 2020. Authorities said he had been shot and stabbed.

Next was Lemus’ hacking death on Aug. 23, 2016, in the Massapequa Preserve, with law enforcement officials recovering the murder victim’s remains in a shallow grave there in May 2019.

"As their families had no idea if their loved ones were alive or dead, the defendant’s acts of violence continued," Rosenblatt told acting State Supreme Court Justice Helene Gugerty.

On Jan. 28, 2017, Ponce took part in the slaying of Julio Cesar Espantzay-Gonzales, 19, of Valley Stream, in the Massapequa Preserve. Authorities said he was struck with a machete and shot.

Then on March 20, 2017, Ponce was among six MS-13 members that authorities said targeted Nelson Rodriguez, 37, of Hempstead, in a deadly shooting in Hempstead as the auto body shop worker walked home from work.

In November, Ponce pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the deaths of Lemus and Espantzay-Gonzales. That same day, he also pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the deaths of Rodriguez and Campos-Sandoval.

Campos-Sandoval's sister recalled Tuesday how her family walked the streets asking people for information after her brother’s disappearance and got no answers.

"Every day, every month, every year that went by my mother lost hope of finding her son alive," Delmy Sandoval, 29, said through a Spanish language interpreter.

"He didn’t deserve to die the way he did," the sister added of a sibling she described as a joyful and positive person who had helped financially support his family.

Ponce also spoke Tuesday while handcuffed and seated next to his attorney, Daniel Russo.

"I do not have an excuse for my past actions," he said in Spanish, while also explaining through an interpreter that he wanted to apologize to the victims’ families. "I know my apologies do not mean anything to them, but I am really, really sorry," he added.

Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said later Tuesday that her office’s resources were "laser-focused" on thwarting MS-13’s violence, saying strides had been made against the gang and that a number of investigations into the criminal organization’s local activities were ongoing.

She also recalled what it was like to feel the grief of the victims’ families spilling out at the sentencing.

"As a mother, to watch another mother stand up and hear about her son was quite emotional," Donnelly said. "As a sister who has a brother, to hear from that family really struck a chord of the importance of the work and the investigation that the detectives and prosecutors did in this case."