UPDATE: Stabbing Convict Back in Jail
TOOLBOX   Resize
 Save/Share +
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
|
Kevin Mendoza, convicted in the 2005 gang stabbings at Springbrook High School in Silver Spring, was released from custody recently after completing an 18-month sentence.
Last week, Mendoza, 19, headed back to jail -- convicted of possessing dangerous weapons.
Mendoza was one of five people riding in a black Honda Civic on Georgia Avenue near Connecticut Avenue in Montgomery County at 7 p.m. June 6. A police officer stopped the car after noticing its "severely cracked windshield."
The driver did not have a license, according to a charging document. The driver and two of the passengers had tattoos. One tattoo said "Laugh Now, Cry Later," and another said "MS-13," shorthand for Mara Salvatrucha, a violent Central American gang.
Officers searched the vehicle and found a 2 1/2 -foot machete, a foot-long machete, an eight-inch knife and a three-foot pipe. Mendoza and the other passengers, an adult and three juveniles, were taken into custody.
Assistant State's Attorney Victor Del Pino said investigators believe the five are members of a clique of the gang. At Mendoza's sentencing, Del Pino said, a detective testified that the teenagers were on their way to fight a rival gang.
Montgomery County District Court Judge Gary G. Everngam sentenced Mendoza to three years -- with all but nine months suspended -- last Monday following his conviction on two counts of carrying a concealed dangerous weapon.
Prosecutors, arguing that his latest crimes were violations of the terms of Mendoza's release, are asking that he be ordered to serve the remainder of the sentence that was imposed in the Springbrook case.
In that case, Mendoza pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree assault. He was sentenced to five years with all but 18 months suspended.
The Aug. 5, 2005, stabbings at the Silver Spring school and a second attack later in the day at a Wheaton mall left four teenagers injured.
Prosecutors said the Springbrook stabbings started when Mendoza got into a spat with another student while attending summer school. Twelve people were charged in the stabbings.
-- Ernesto Londoño
