Updated:
An MS-13 gang member who was deported after serving time for fatally stabbing a man in Huntington was rearrested Tuesday and charged with re-entering the country illegally.
William Martinez Chavez, now 38, was a member of MS-13 when he fatally stabbed Armando Velasquez Garcia, severing his aorta. Garcia died minutes later. The stabbing occurred May 22, 2000 outside a deli in Huntington. In May 2002, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the stabbing and then released to immigration authorities in 2017, who deported him, the state Department of Corrections said.
When he was arrested Tuesday in Huntington, he was carrying a Mexican driver’s license, authorities said.
Tuesday, Magistrate Judge Tomlinson in federal court, Central Islip, ordered him remanded to jail. His defense attorney is Tracey Gaffey of the Long Island Federal Defenders.
Richard P. Donoghue, United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Thomas R. Decker, field office director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations, announced the arrest. “As alleged, Martinez Chavez illegally returned to the United States after he served a lengthy New York State prison sentence for a homicide he committed on Long Island, and was deported to El Salvador,” Donoghue said.
“This office is firmly committed to prosecuting criminals who illegally reenter the United States, especially MS-13 gang members who break into the country after deportations resulting from violent crime convictions.”
Donoghue expressed his appreciation to the Joint Criminal Alien Removal Taskforce and the United States Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force, Long Island Division, for their assistance with the case. “Martinez Chavez is a known MS-13 gang member who was convicted of manslaughter, served his time and was removed from the United States, only to resurface on the same streets after having entered illegally,” stated ERO New York Field Office Director Decker.
If convicted, Martinez Chavez faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.
Martinez is also known as “William Martinez,” “William Martines,” “William Martinez Chavez” and “Julio Cordero.”