by Rashad Christian
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer<
As Baltimore County detectives investigate a possible connection between the death of a 21-year-old Loch Raven man and gang violence, police Thursday announced the arrest of three more men.
Investigators said that Daniel Alejandro Alvarado Cuellar, 21, of 8400 block of Loch Raven Boulevard, was probably a member of the 18th Street Gang and was stalked and murdered by seven members of the notorious MS-13 street gang on July 31. Seven were arrested last week after police determined the murder was premediated.
On Thursday, three other men, all residents of Cockeysville, were arrested and held without bail in the Baltimore County Detention Center:
- Hugo Leonel Martinez-Vasquez, 22, of the 300 block of Limestone Valley Drive.
- Jose Alexi Villacorta-Rivas, 19, of the 10000 block of Cranbrook Hills Place.
- Yoni Membreno-Parada, 17, of the 10000 block of Cranbrook Hills Place.
Police said no additional arrests were expected.
“We take all criminal activity — gang or otherwise — very seriously, and we’re working with our police department to make sure all of our neighborhoods are safe,” Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. said last week at a news conference.
Olszewski was quick to applaud the County Police for its swift handling and “their hard work to solve this case.” It took homicide investigators only three days to charge the seven suspects in Cuellar’s murder.
The county executive also took to social media: “We do not and will not tolerate violent crime of any kind in our communities, regardless of the immigration status of the perpetrators or the victims.”
Last week, police arrested and charged one woman and six men, including a juvenile charged as an adult with first-degree murder in connection with Cuellar’s stabbing death. His body was discovered in the grass near his home. The seven were being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center.
Charges were filed against: Jonathan Escobar-Hernandez, 20, of Baltimore; Marlon Leonardo Fabian-Flores, 20, of Manchester; Edwin Edgardo Garcia-Martin, 18, of Middle River; and Hugo Portillo-Chavez, 31, Jose Fausto Rivera-Coreas, 19, and, Leonel Alexander Velasquez-Hernandez , 16, all of Cockeysville.