BALTIMORE – An El Salvadoran illegal alien, who resided in Frederick, Maryland, received a prison term in federal court, today, for his role in the murder of a minor.
U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson sentenced Jose Ramos Lopez, 26, to seven years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise in connection with murdering Victim 1. As an MS-13 member, Ramos Lopez typically received and sold marijuana and then provided the proceeds to gang leadership. He also collected extortion money from area brothels that the clique leveraged to raise money for the gang.
Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentence with Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul, FBI Baltimore Field Office, and Interim Chief Kevin Meyer, Frederick Police Department (FPD).
According to the guilty plea, on February 24, 2023, MS-13 gang members, including Victim 1, gathered outside of a Frederick apartment complex. Gang members then lured Victim 1 to a wooded area to smoke marijuana. While in the wooded area, gang members stabbed Victim 1 with knives and slashed him with a machete until he died.
Following the murder, Ramos Lopez came to the murder site to assist gang members with cleaning up and disposing of evidence from the murder of the victim, including weapons and clothing. Gang members additionally dismembered Victim 1’s body, transported it to another wooded area, and then buried it in two clandestine graves.
Subsequently, law enforcement found the area where the MS-13 gang killed Victim 1. They identified a wooded area with a blood trail leading from a chair down the hill to a creek. Law enforcement discovered blood along the creek, blood on rocks, and a white plastic bag with blood.
Then law enforcement uncovered a black trash bag with items covered in blood, including two hats, two coats, and two pairs of pants in a nearby dumpster, along with a grocery bag with blood inside, and a knife.
Law enforcement later recovered portions of Victim 1’s dismembered body from two clandestine graves near Mink Farm Road in Thurmont, Maryland.
The Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders.
In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.
HSTF Baltimore comprises agents and officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI); the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the District of Maryland; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); the United States Marshals Service (USMS); the Washington/Baltimore HIDTA (W/B HIDTA); the Maryland State Police (MSP); the Baltimore Police Department (BPD); and the Baltimore County Police Department (BCPD) with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.
U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the FBI and FPD for their work in the investigation. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kenneth S. Clark and Jared M. Beim who are prosecuting this federal case.
For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, visit justice.gov/usao-md.
FREDERICK COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE PRESS RELEASE: On May 26 2025, the Frederick Police Department arrested five male offenders and processed four of them in connection to the murder of Limber Lopez Funez, age 15, from Frederick. Officers processed the fifth in connection to attempted murder charges on another case.
Following their arrest, Designated Immigration Officers (DIO) within the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office 287(g) Program placed an Immigration Detainer-Notice of Action, form I-247A, on all five noncitizens illegally present in the United States. ICE lodges detainers on individuals arrested on criminal charges who ICE has probable cause to believe are removable noncitizens.
Alexis Alfredo Ayala Lopez, age 21, Jose Roberto Ramos-Lopez, age 22, (a validated associate of Mara Salvatrucha MS13), and Ismael Ivan Rivera-Canales, age 20, all face charges to include first-degree murder.
Ismael Lopez-Lopez, age 29, (a validated member of Mara Salvatrucha MS13) charges include accessory to first-degree murder after the fact. Lopez-Lopez was already incarcerated at the time of the charges for assault first-degree and violation of a protective order.
A fifth suspect, Elmir Bladimir Reyes-Reyes is currently in Pennsylvania waiting extradition back to Frederick and faces charges in connection with the murder of Lopez-Funez.
Additionally, FCSO correctional officers processed Josue Mauricio Arrue-Paniagua (a validated member of Mara Salvatrucha MS13) into the Frederick County Adult Detention Center on May 26. His charges include attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, assault first-degree, assault second-degree, and firearm use/felon-violate crime on another case.
All five suspects are at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center and held without bond.
Once they have satisfied their local criminal charges, ICE will take over custody of all identified suspects.
The 287(g) program is a law enforcement tool and serves as a deterrent to criminal noncitizens.
Thanks Joe!