A ranking member of the San Fernando Valley-based MS-13 Fulton clique was sentenced Tuesday to life in federal prison for his role in two gang-related murders, including the 2019 killing of a fellow member whose remains were linked to the Tick Fire.
*PANORAMA CITY* — Walter Chavez Larin, 27, was sentenced Tuesday to life in federal prison for his role in two gang-related murders tied to the Fulton clique of MS-13, a San Fernando Valley faction that prosecutors described as a particularly violent gang.
Chavez Larin, also known by his gang moniker "Delito," was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. after a federal jury found him guilty in November 2025 of one count of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of violent crimes in aid of racketeering murder, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
He was one of five MS-13 members convicted following a nine-week federal trial that examined a series of murders committed across Los Angeles County between 2017 and 2019.
Federal prosecutors said Chavez participated in the June 2017 murder of Elvin "Winnie Pooh" Hernandez, a member of the Park View clique of MS-13 who was accused of exaggerating his position within the gang.
According to evidence presented at trial, Hernandez was confronted by Chavez and other gang members at an abandoned property, disarmed of a machete, and assaulted before being taken to the Angeles National Forest. There, he was stabbed and hacked to death. Prosecutors said several gang members attempted to decapitate him before abandoning his body in a remote area.
Chavez also ordered the January 2019 killing of Oscar Fuentes, 19, an MS-13 member known as "Cadejo," who prosecutors said had violated gang rules after drifting away from the group and becoming addicted to methamphetamine.
Trial evidence indicated Chavez placed a "green light" on Fuentes, authorizing his death. Fuentes was abducted from Whitsett Park in North Hollywood and driven to eastern Santa Clarita, where he was shot in the head by fellow gang members acting under Chavez's direction.
Prosecutors said Chavez handed a revolver to a younger recruit and instructed him to "take care of it."
Fuentes' remains were never fully recovered. However, in October 2019, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigators linked human remains discovered by a Public Works cleanup crew in Canyon Country following the Tick Fire to the homicide investigation.
The federal trial focused on the Fulton clique of MS-13, which prosecutors described as a particularly violent San Fernando Valley faction that adopted rules requiring prospective members to commit murder before becoming full-fledged gang members.
Authorities alleged the clique followed a traditional Salvadoran MS-13 structure in which killings were used to gain status and maintain positions within the organization.
Co-defendant Edwin Martinez, who was convicted alongside Chavez of racketeering conspiracy and three murders, previously received a life sentence in federal prison. Another defendant involved in the Fuentes killing, Carlos Daniel Orellana, pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy in August 2025 and is serving a sentence of 33 years and nine months in federal prison.
Federal prosecutors said they have secured 34 convictions in the broader racketeering case. The FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office investigated the case.
This article was generated with AI assistance.