LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Prosecutors say 20 members of a Los Angeles gang pleaded not guilty Monday to felony charges of running a food-truck extortion racket in Hollywood.
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said 20 MS-13 gang members in five separate cases were arraigned. Five others have not yet been arraigned and their indictments remain under seal, Gibbons said.
The grand jury indictments, unsealed Monday, charge the alleged gang members and associates with conspiracy and extortion for shaking down food-truck operators during a five-year period that started in 2007.
According to court documents, gang members began approaching owners or their truck operators in July 2007 and demanding $30 to $100 in weekly “rent” money to operate their trucks in Hollywood.
The alleged gang members were indicted after a yearlong investigation dubbed “Protecting the Dream” by the Los Angeles Police Department and other agencies, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Among those charged in the indictments with felony counts of “conspiracy to commit a crime” and extortion for having “extorted money or other property...by means of force and threat” are Marlon Juarez, aka Jose, aka Bandit, 27; Jose Parada, aka Temper, 23; David Alfaro, aka Cartoon, 20; Albert Chojolan, aka Moreno, 32; Martha Lara, aka Secury, 63; Gerson Perez, aka Hershey, 32; and Juan Gomez, aka Clumsy, 27; Angel Navarro, aka Little Shady, 18; Edin Juarez aka Trebu, aka Trebol, 25; Francisco Ruiz, aka Fat Boy, 19.
Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, is a Los Angeles gang with Salvadoran roots and a violent reputation; federal officials have labeled it a transnational criminal organization.
The alleged gang members are scheduled to return to court April 18.
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