Mother of accused MS-13 gang leader denies accusations against son

DALE CITY, Va. — Neighbors are shocked and law enforcement is praising the team work that brought an accused high-ranking leader of the MS-13 gang into custody in Virginia Thursday. 

The FBI confirmed to WUSA9 that 24-year-old Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos from El Salvador was taken into custody Thursday morning.

According to court documents, Villatoro-Santos is a "native and citizen of El Salvador who is not legally present in the United States."

Thursday night WUSA9 knocked on the door of the home where investigators made the arrest hours earlier.

A woman who opened the door confirmed to WUSA9's Katie Lusso that it was her son that was arrested. When she was asked if her son was a gang member, she said "no." She also denied knowing anything about MS-13, the gang her son is accused of being a top leader for.

In August, Villatoro-Santos's mother reported a burglary at a home in Dale City, according to court documents. The FBI had been conducting surveillance on the home and wrote that they had "routinely observed" him entering and exiting the home.

According to the FBI, Villatoro-Santos was seen in an alcove as SWAT agents entered the home, and didn't comply when they told him to exit the home.

Eventually, a stun grenade was deployed, and investigators say he was pulled from the home, and taken into custody.

Investigators wrote in court documents that they found a Taurus, model G2C, 9-millimeter handgun on a shelf near the bed. They also say they found more guns, ammunition and two suppressors, along with signs or marks of MS-13 association in the room.

Youngkin, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Eric Siebert, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, praised the task force that helped bring him into custody during a press conference Thursday morning.

Siebert called the Homeland Security task force the first of its kind in the country, using interagency collaboration. Siebert said the task force was launched on March 3, and it has led to 575 targets and 342 arrests. Of those arrests, 81 had gang or transnational crime affiliations. 

"It requires this kind of task force, this collaboration of our Virginia resources," Youngkin said. "Systematically over the last four weeks, we have gone to work. Gone to work untangling, gone to work putting together the cases and arresting these horrific criminals. These criminals who live in our neighborhood."

Youngkin praised the Trump administration for its immediate help in working with ICE. 

"The leader of the entire east coast was living right among us," Bondi said. 

Both Siebert and Youngkin made it clear that this arrest is just the beginning of this type of enforcement.

"We are not backing off," Youngkin said.