GREENBELT, MD – A chilling plot to kidnap and murder a New Jersey victim has led to federal charges against three Maryland men.
The defendants, Neris Moreno-Martinez, 19, of West New York; Jose Israel Melendez-Rivera, 19, of Montgomery Village; and Reynaldo Alexi Granados-Vasquez, 21, of Gaithersburg, are accused of orchestrating the scheme to lure the victim to Maryland with a fake online romance.
According to federal prosecutors, Moreno-Martinez, using a false identity, communicated with the victim through a social media account between October 1 and 15, 2016. He convinced the victim to travel from New Jersey to meet ‘Shaila Smith,’ a fictional character created by Moreno-Martinez.
The trio allegedly met the victim on October 15, 2016, in Gaithersburg, where they killed him in a wooded area and buried his body in a shallow grave. The crime has been described as a ‘horrifically planned effort’ to kidnap and cause ‘grotesque bodily harm,’ by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Andre R. Watson.
Each defendant faces life in prison if convicted. Granados-Vasquez appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles B. Day, while Moreno-Martinez and Melendez-Rivera await their initial appearances. They are currently being held on related state charges.
The case has been lauded as a result of the collaborative efforts between HSI-Baltimore, the Montgomery County Police Department, and the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.
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Key Facts
- State: Maryland
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Violent Crime|Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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