Virginia MS-13 Member Receives Lengthy Sentence for Drive-By Shooting

June 11, 2010 - ALEXANDRIA, VA—Jose Enrique Rivas Ayala, also known as “Pequeno,” 26, of Sterling, Va., was sentenced today to 150 months in prison, followed by a term of five years of supervised release, for aiding and abetting the assault with a dangerous weapon and discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Shawn Henry, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office; Toussant E. Summers Jr., Herndon Chief of Police; and Chiefs Charlie Dean and Joe Price of the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee. Rivas pled guilty on March 29, 2010.

According to court documents, on the evening of Aug. 10, 2008, Rivas and three other MS-13 members were traveling in Rivas’s vehicle around Herndon, Va. Earlier in the evening, there had been an altercation between members of rival Hispanic gangs MS-13 and 18th Street. Rivas and his three passengers were patrolling for 18th Street as they sought retaliation for the earlier incident. Rivas located the suspected 18th Street members and circled their location. Prior to driving by the suspected rivals again, one of passengers in Rivas’s car brandished a .38 caliber revolver and as Rivas drove his vehicle towards the suspected rivals, his passenger fired multiple shots into the group of individuals. One individual was wounded.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Herndon Police Department, and the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force. Assistant United States Attorneys Patricia Haynes and Zachary Terwilliger prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.