COLUMBUS (WCMH) — An alleged member of the MS-13 gang in Columbus has pleaded guilty to racketeering and homicide charges in a federal court.
Erasmo Humberto Lima-Martinez, 32, also known as “Tun Tun” pleaded guilty to one count of murder for his role in the 2015 homicide of 17-year-old Wilson Villeda.
Investigators state that MS-13 leadership in El Salvador authorized Villeda’s murder, and in November 2015, MS-13 members took Villeda to Innis Park, where they attacked and killed him with a machete and other bladed weapons before burying his body in a shallow grave in the woods in the park.
Villeda was a high school student, who investigators deemed was affiliated with a rival gang.
Lima-Martinez is one of 23 people charged in a second superseding indictment in February 2018 who are alleged to be members and associates of MS-13 in Columbus.
The suspects are charged in a racketeering conspiracy, which includes five murders as well as attempted murder, extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking, assault, obstruction of justice, witness intimidation, weapons offenses and immigration-related violations.
The second superseding indictment alleges that the defendants committed a host of overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy, including:
- The December 2006 murder of Jose Mendez, a confidential informant, in Perry County
- The November 2008 murder of Ramon Ramos on Lockbourne Road in Columbus
- The mid-2015 murder of Carlos Serrano-Ramos, a suspected rival gang member, near Innis Road in Columbus
- The November 2015 murder of Wilson Villeda near Innis Road in Columbus
- The December 2016 murder of Salvador Martinez-Diaz, a suspected rival gang member, on Melroy Avenue in Columbus.
Lima-Martinez also took part in drug trafficking cocaine, marijuana and heroin on behalf of the criminal enterprise, federal prosecutors state.
Lima-Martinez faces up to life in prison.
