MS-13 gang member wanted for New York murders arrested in Flowery Branch

Posted 10:58AM on Thursday, May 21, 2015

ATLANTA — The FBI confirmed Thursday morning that a known member of the MS-13 gang wanted for murder in New York was arrested in Flowery Branch earlier in the week.

In a written statement, the agency said Arnolvin Umanzor Velasquez was arrested Tuesday morning at a residence in the 4200 block of Winder Highway by a Federal Bureau of Investigation SWAT team. The agency released no further details on the arrest. They said Velasquez was arraigned before United States Magistrate Judge E. Clayton Scofield, III, at the federal courthouse in Atlanta and then he was ordered to be removed in custody to the Eastern District of New York.

The arrest came after a 29-count indictment was unsealed in Central Islip, New York, charging Velasquez and two other gang members with three murders, four attempted murders and racketeering associated with those crimes in 2011.

The other suspects, identified as Edwin Acosta-Martinez and Sergio Cerna are in federal custody in New York; both are known members of MS-13, as well.

The indictment alleges that the three suspects are accused in the November 2, 2011 murder of Brandon Sotomayor in Baywood, NY. Sotomayor was said to be a member of a rival gang.

The three also are charged with the December 18, 2011 double-murder of two brothers, Enston and Ricardo Ceron, in Brentwood, NY. The FBI statement said the two victims were brothers. Enston Ceron reportedly was killed because he had been distancing himself from the gang by not attending meetings, and the suspects apparently thought he might cooperate with law enforcement if he were arrested. Ricardo Ceron, who belonged to another clique of the MS-13, was murdered because the suspects reportedly believed he would retaliate for the death of his brother.

All three suspects face a lengthy list of additional charges related to the murders.