MS-13 gang member convicted of murder during wave of terror in Fresno County city

A 27-year-old MS-13 gang member was found guilty by a federal jury of taking part in the vicious 2017 murder of a 19-year-old man from Mendota.

Israel Alberto Rivas Gomez, a native of El Salvador, was convicted Friday of kidnapping and murder in aid of racketeering.

Federal prosecutors said Rivas Gomez is a member of the violent criminal street gang called La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). The gang’s members have been accused by law enforcement of murder, kidnapping, extortion and drug trafficking.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, on Dec. 18, 2017 Rivas Gomez and other MS-13 gang members kidnapped a 19-year-old man in Mendota, drove him to a remote location about 30 minutes away, and used a knife and machete to murder him.

Rivas Gomez is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on Dec. 16. He faces a mandatory statutory penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Rivas Gomez was one of 25 people arrested in August 2018 as part of a crackdown on the gang’s criminal activity in and around the west Fresno County town of Mendota.

Law enforcement officials suspect that from 2015 to late 2017 more than a dozen murders in and around Mendota were connected to MS-13. Residents said the gang had been operating in Mendota for nearly a decade prior to the large-scale law-enforcement sweep in August 2018.

“This conviction is the culmination of years of incredible teamwork between our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners,” U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert said. “This defendant murdered a young man and brought untold harm to the victim’s family. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to dismantling criminal enterprises like MS-13, and, equally important, to vindicating the rights of victims and seeking justice for their family members and loved ones.”

Several law enforcement agencies were involved in the case, including the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the California Department of Justice and the California Highway Patrol Special Operations Unit, the Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Consortium (MAGEC), the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Special Services Unit.