Yeison “Yerba” Chavez Campos, 23, of Huntington Station, received an over half-century prison sentence for kidnapping a 15-year-old whom he subsequently robbed and beat unconscious.
Chavez Campos was one of seven members of the Huntington Criminal Locates Salvatrucha (HCLS) clique of the MS-13 street gang.
“This brutal attack should not have happened. This defendant and his MS-13 co-conspirators are on notice that they cannot engage in wanton acts of violence in our communities,” said Suffolk District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney.
He continued, “We will continue to work with our county and federal law enforcement partners to ensure that members of transnational violent street gangs who seek to harm our residents are incarcerated and held responsible for their actions.”
The incident occurred on the morning of January 6, 2024, when the victim was lured to the Huntington Train Station.
After Chavez Campos and his associates surrounded the victim and stole his money, they punched and kicked the victim repeatedly as he lay defenseless on the floor after being knocked down.
The victim was then forced into a vehicle and driven to the abandoned Pilgrim Psychiatric Center site in Brentwood. He was taken to a heavily graffitied room, struck with a brick on the back of the head and stabbed in the neck.
Hours later, Chavez Campos and his crew returned with garbage bags and shovels, keen on burying their victim—but he had disappeared.
Fortunately, the victim regained consciousness shortly after he was left for dead, escaped the building and walked to a nearby road where a Good Samaritan found him collapsed.
After a 9-1-1 call was placed, the victim was rushed to a local hospital, where he underwent a craniotomy to treat a brain bleed and a fractured skull.
Chavez Campos was officially convicted on July 18th.