Cops Collar Prov. Gang Member

A known member of the Providence-based MS-13 street gang faces drug charges following his arrest by on Apr. 21.

Ptlm. Matthew Leveillee reported that he and several other officers went to Panderia El Paisano, at 928 Plainfield St., at about 9 p.m. to check out a report of an assault.

When they arrived, Leveillee wrote, the officers found the victim, identified as Andres Julian-Ventura, "lying on the ground in the parking lot."

Julian-Ventura was "semi-conscious," Leveillee noted, and Johnston Fire and Rescue personnel responded to take him to Rhode Island Hospital for treatment. According to Leveillee's report, Julian-Ventura could not identify who hit him.

As the officers spoke with four men in the parking lot, Sgt. Joseph Salvadore reported that one of the men, identified as Francisco Bonilla, had "M" and "S" tattoos on his forearms.

Bonilla confirmed that the tattoos signified his membership in the MS-13 gang, and told the officers that he had "been banging since I was fifteen, MS-13 for life," according to Leveillee's report.

Salvadore then asked dispatch officers to contact Providence Police for assistance by that department's gang unit.

Det. Sgt. Michael Wheeler — — went to the scene and identified Bonilla as the leader of MS-13.

Leveillee also reported that Wheeler identified another of the men, Carlos Chamorro, as a member of the MS-13 gang.

As he spoke with Chamorro, Leveillee reported that Chamorro was acting nervous and trying to put his hands in his pockets.

During a pat-down search, Leveillee found a hard-top pack of Newport cigarettes, which he said is "commonly used to store small weapons."

Leveillee wrote that he found a small bag containing 0.5 grams of marijuana inside the cigarette pack, and that a second search turned up a rolled-up dollar bill with a 0.7 grams of cocaine inside it.

Police charged Chamorro with felony counts of cocaine possession and marijuana possession and brought him before a Justice of the Peace for arraignment. Chamorro was then transported to the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston, where he was held until his arraignment on Monday in Third District Court, Warwick.

Chamorro failed to post bail at the Apr. 23 hearing, according to online court records, and is next scheduled to appear for a court hearing on June 22.

The owner of the club, Alvaro Ortega, told police that he was unaware of the assault, and requested no-trespass orders to be imposed on the four men who were at the scene, Leveillee reported.

Following their investigation of the assault, officers released Bonilla and the other two men without filing charges against them.