16 Warrants, Arrests Later

I have been waiting for this special report and it just came in.

Sheriff Steve Simpson's Gang Intelligence Unit is investigating several assaults that occurred in the Sterling area earlier this year that may be tied to two notorious gangs.

In recent days, including this past weekend I recieved phone calls. Here's your answers.

Last week members of Sheriff Steve Simpson's Office Gang Intelligence Unit served 16 search warrants over two days. Eight of the search warrants were on homes in the Sterling Park area. Investigators also searched eight lockers at Park View High School. The warrants stem from several assaults over the last few months involving alleged teenaged members of MS-13 and the 18th Street gangs.

One of the suspects, Gabriele Castillo, 18, was apprehended Thursday night and is currently being held on a deportation order by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). Castillo is charged locally with street gang participation and felony gang recruitment. During the investigation it was revealed that Castillo allegedly (fought) a juvenile (with) the 18th Street gang.

The sixteen search warrants stem from several assaults that occurred in early 2007. On January 23rd members of the Sheriff's Office were called to the McDonalds on Sterling Boulevard just after 4 PM for a report of a fight inside the fast food restaurant. The individuals involved in the altercation were no longer at the scene and were not located at the time. Two days later on the morning of January 25th an 18-year-old male was assaulted by two subjects in the Park View High School parking lot as he exited his vehicle to go to school. On January 30th the same two subjects along with another teen were allegedly involved in an assault at a school bus stop along Providence Village Drive and Maple Avenue.

Charged in the assaults at the high school and the bus stop were Jhonny Lopez, 19, and Eliseo Antonio Morales, 18, both of Sterling. Both Lopez and Morales were charged with aggravated malicious wounding and simple assault. The third suspect, Osmand Wilfredo Larios-Torres, 19, of Leesburg was charged with simple assault for the school bus stop incident. An investigation revealed that the assault was in an apparent retaliation for the incident at the McDonalds.

The investigation into the assaults is continuing and more arrests are expected. The Sheriffs Office Gang Intelligence Unit was assisted in the execution of the search warrants by the Fairfax County Police Department, the Northern Virginia Gang Task Force, and ICE.