Gang Assault, Kidnapping Conviction For MS-13 Member Who Brutally Attacked Teen: DA

BRENTWOOD, NY — One of seven MS-13 gang members who brutally attacked a teen boy in 2024 has been convicted of gang assault, kidnapping and other charges, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced.

Yeison "Yerba" Chavez Campos, 23, of Huntington Station, was convicted of first-degree gang assault, second-degree kidnapping and other related charges after a jury trial on Friday, for his role in violently attacking a 15-year-old at the Pilgrim State Mental Facility in Brentwood that left the child unconscious on Jan.6, 2024, the DA said.

Chavez Campos is the final one of the seven members and associates of the Huntington Criminal Locates Salvatrucha of "HCLS" clique of the MS-13 street gang convicted of the attack, the DA said.

"MS-13 has no place in Suffolk County," said District Attorney Tierney. "The actions of this defendant and his MS-13 co-defendants on a 15-year-old boy will not be tolerated. I commend my office and our law enforcement partners for bringing this defendant and all of his associates to justice."

According to evidence established at trial, on the morning of Jan. 6, the 15-year-old victim was lured to the Huntington Train Station by a group of MS-13 members and associates.

While at the train station, Chavez Campos and four other MS-13 members/associates surrounded the boy, took his money, then punched and kicked him repeatedly, knocking him to the ground, the DA said.

After the assault, Chavez Campos and his MS-13 associates forced the teen into a vehicle and
drove him to the Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in Brentwood, the DA said. There, the gang members brought him into an abandoned building where they beat him repeatedly, struck him with a brick in the back of the head and stabbed him in the neck, the DA said.

Chavez Campos and the other gang members then fled the abandoned building and left the teen unconscious on the ground, and when they later returned with garbage bags and shovels, prepared to bury the teen boy but could not find him, the DA said.

The DA said that miraculously, the boy survived the assault. He regained consciousness, found a way out of the building and walked to a nearby road where he collapsed, the DA said.

Shortly after, a Good Samaritan found him and called 911, the DA said. The boy was brought to a local hospital where he received surgery, including a craniotomy, to treat a brain bleed and fractured skull, the DA said.

On July 18, Chavez Campos was convicted after a jury trial before Supreme Court Justice Anthony S. Senft, Jr., for one count of first-degree gang assault, a Class B violent felony; one count of first-degree assault, a Class B violent felony; one count of second-degree kidnapping, a Class B violent felony; one count of first-degree attempted assault, a Class C violent felony; one count of second-degree gang assault, a Class C violent felony; two counts of second-degree robbery, Class C violent felonies; and two counts of second-degree assault, Class D violent felonies, the DA said.

Chavez Campos’s co-defendants Josue "Shrek" Zepeda Padilla, Brayan "Gucci" Jimenez Avila, Maycoll "Pirata" Ramirez Cerrato, Marcos "Jero" Serpos, Maybelline Garcia Cornejo and Henry Lemus Nieto previously pleaded guilty to the charges contained in the indictment and are awaiting sentencing, the DA said.

Chavez Campos is due back in court on Aug. 20, and faces 25 years on each of the top counts, which are eligible to be run consecutively to each other, the DA said.

The United States Department of Homeland Security,Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has lodged a detainer to take custody and deport Chaves Campos after he serves his sentence, the DA said.

He is being represented by Pierre Bazile, who was not immediately available for comment.