MS-13 defendant sentenced to more than 39 years in prison for involvement in two local murders

 Former Columbus man also ordered execution of 15-year-old Houston girl

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Jose Salvador Gonzalez-Campos, 30, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 472 months in prison for participating in murders on behalf of an MS-13 racketeering conspiracy.

According to court documents, Gonzalez-Campos, also known as “Danger,” took part in the November 2015 murder of Wilson Villeda near Innis Road in Columbus and the December 2016 murder of Salvador Martinez-Diaz, a suspected rival gang member, on Melroy Avenue in Columbus.

The government also presented evidence that Gonzalez-Campos directed MS-13 members in Houston to shoot and kill a 15-year-old girl.

In the early morning hours of February 16, 2017, three MS-13 members took Genesis Cornejo to a quiet street in Houston after telling her they were going to buy marijuana. While the victim stood on the side of the road, two of the gang members shot her in the head and chest and left her on the side of the road.

Law enforcement interviews and social media messages state Gonzalez-Campos ordered the murder, saying the girl “had to disappear” because she had been in a relationship with a rival 18^th Street gang member.

In his own Facebook messages, Gonzalez-Campos said, “I told him to hit her, for him to send word on the line…For real, dog, they had two days to kill her.”

“This defendant and others butchered a 17-year-old victim with a machete, causing at least 92 traumatic fractures,” U.S. Attorney David M. DeVillers said. “Gonzalez-Campos also participated in the year-long planning of a second Columbus murder, in which the victim’s body was riddled with bullets. Finally, this defendant used his authority in the transnational criminal organization to direct fellow MS-13 members in Houston to kill a 15-year-old girl whom they believed had dated a rival gang member.”

Gonzalez-Campos is one of 23 individuals charged in a second superseding indictment in February 2018 who are alleged to be members and associates of MS-13 in Columbus.

The defendants are charged in a racketeering conspiracy, which includes five murders as well as attempted murder, extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking, assault, obstruction of justice, witness intimidation, weapons offenses and immigration-related violations.

Gonzalez-Campos distributed, and possessed with the intent to distribute, street-level quantities of cocaine and marijuana.

He and others conspired to commit extortion by obtaining money from various individuals through the use of threats of violence against the victims and their families. The co-conspirators used national and international wire transfer services to send money that they generated to individuals in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and the United States. The funds were used to purchase weapons and other items used in criminal activity, provide assistance to MS-13 members who had been incarcerated or deported, aid the families of gang members who had been killed, and otherwise support MS-13’s operations in Central America and the United States.

Gonzalez-Campos pleaded guilty in Sept. 2019 to one count of participating in a racketeering conspiracy and one count of murder through the use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

Congress sets the maximum statutory sentence. Sentencing of the defendant is determined by the Court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

David M. DeVillers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Chris Hoffman, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; Rebecca Adducci, Detroit Field Office Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations; Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin and Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Court Judge Edmund A Sargus, Jr.

U.S. Attorney DeVillers also recognized the assistance of the Harris County, Texas District Attorney’s Office.

Deputy Criminal Chief Brian J. Martinez and Assistant United States Attorney Noah R. Litton are representing the United States in this case.