MS-13 members charged in 2016 and 2017 deaths

Two alleged MS-13 gang members — Josue Figueroa-Velasquez, 18, of Freeport, and Kevin Lopez-Morales 20, of Roosevelt — were charged on Oct. 19 with the murder of Josue Amaya Lenor, 19 and Angel Soler, 15. Both victims were Roosevelt residents at the time of their deaths.

The pair pleaded not guilty and were remanded without bail. Figueroa-Velasquez is due back in court on Nov. 14, and Lopez-Morales is due back Nov. 15. If convicted, they each face a maximum of 25 years to life in prison on each charge.

According to police, four other men, along with Figueroa-Velasquez and Lopez-Morales, on Sept. 4, 2016, lured Amaya Lenor into the woods with the promise to smoke marijuana before they hacked him to death. Amaya Lenor’s body was found in May 2018 in a wooded area of the Roosevelt Preserve.

On Sept. 6, Jose Daniel Lopez, 19, was also arraigned on second-degree murder charges for participating in hacking Amaya Lenor to death.

Figueroa-Velasquez and Lopez-Morales were also charged with the July 21, 2017, murder of Soler. Like Lenor, Soler was also hacked to death with machetes. His body was found under cement in October 2017, in a wooded area near Roosevelt, south of the Southern State Parkway.

Also charged in Soler’s death were three other alleged MS-13 members — Dennis Lopez, 18, of Freeport; David Sosa Guevara, 26, of Wyandanch; and Victor Lopez, 29, of Roosevelt.

According to officials, at the time of death, Figueroa-Velasquez and Lopez-Morales were considered enemies of the gang and might have been members of the 18th Street gang, a rival of MS-13. Leonor Amaya had been friends and classmates of Soler, 16, from Roosevelt, and Kerin Pineda, 20, from Freeport, whose body was found in October 2017.