A man who was convicted last year for his role in a series of murders in Reston will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Elmer De Jesus Alas Candray, 27, was sentenced by a federal judge today (Thursday) to six concurrent life prison sentences for multiple racketeering, murder and gun charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
A member of MS-13, an international gang started in Los Angeles, California, by immigrants who had fled to the U.S. to escape civil war in El Salvador, Alas Candray collaborated with other gang members to murder five people in Reston 2019 and 2022 in an effort to climb through the organization’s ranks, according to prosecutors.
Alas Candray was also part of a group that fatally beat and strangled a fellow MS-13 member in Bedford, Massachussetts, on Aug. 25, 2018, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The murder was approved by MS-13 leaders who believed that the victim had betrayed the gang.
Alas Candray was convicted by a jury on Oct. 21, 2024 on five counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering conspiracy, three counts of using a firearm during a violent crime that caused death, and conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise.
“This verdict sends a clear message that the community will not tolerate violence, and we will hold those accountable for their actions,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said after the jury’s verdict was announced.
Summaries of the Reston murders from the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release are below:
In June 2019, Alas Candray and others conspired to murder individuals who frequently gathered to drink in a wooded area in the clique’s perceived territory in Reston. On June 23, 2019, Alas Candray and other members and associates armed themselves with a 9mm firearm, a .45 caliber firearm, and two machetes and traveled to the Hunters Woods area of Reston. The group murdered an individual, identified as J.L.G.M., shooting him and slashing him with a machete.
On Sept. 17, 2020, Alas Candray and others devised a plan to lure a young woman, identified as I.J.P.G., to Colts Neck Road in Reston under false pretenses and kill her because they believed she was associated with a rival gang and had disparaged MS-13 on social media. A co-conspirator exchanged messages with I.J.P.G. via Snapchat, pretending to be a member of MS-13’s rival gang. He and another co-conspirator later picked up I.J.P.G. and drove her to Colts Neck Road, where Alas Candray and another MS-13 member were waiting for them. The four co-conspirators killed I.J.P.G. by taking turns shooting her, primarily in the face.
In March 2021, MS-13 members and associates conspired to murder an individual, identified as S.A.T.L., because they believed he was a member of a rival gang. On March 11, 2021, Alas Candray and other MS-13 members and associates, surveilled S.A.T.L. in Fairfax County and waited for an opportunity to murder him. Alas Candray and his co-conspirators went to an apartment complex on Winterthur Court in Reston where Alas Candray fatally shot S.A.T.L.
On May 30, 2022, Alas Candray and co-conspirators travelled to the Lerner Springs at Reston Apartment Homes and joined others on a footpath behind the complex to patrol the clique’s perceived territory. Shortly thereafter, the conspirators encountered an individual, identified as R.A.P.S., on the footpath. Alas Candray and others murdered R.A.P.S. by kicking him and dropping a large rock on his head as he lay on the footpath.
On June 18, 2022, Alas Candray and a co-conspirator picked up an individual, identified as F.R.A.R., from Reston and drove him to Seneca Regional Park in Fairfax County. Alas Candray, and his co-conspirators believed that F.R.A.R. had disrespected MS-13 and violated its rules. After arriving at a pre-selected location in the park, Alas Candray and several co-conspirators murdered F.R.A.R. by beating him with a baseball bat and stabbing him. They then dismembered F.R.A.R.’s body and buried F.R.A.R.’s remains in a clandestine grave.
