He had been held in federal custody Ohta said in her decision that Aviles Perez — who still has an active aggravated murder warrant in El Salvador — must be released unless federal authorities can prove at a bail hearing that he poses a danger to the community or is a flight risk.
The release comes despite the allegations against Aviles Perez, who was wanted in El Salvador in connection with a brutal gang murder…
Aviles Perez has a record of violence in the US as well as abroad. He was arrested in 2023 for assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly swung a machete at a man in Monterey, California, according to Department of Homeland Security officials and police documents.
The illegal immigrant was released under California’s sanctuary laws and remained at large until he was arrested by ICE, DHS officials said.
Until last Thursday, he was being held as he awaits his return to El Salvador to serve his sentence for a 2014 murder. Now he’s back on the streets.
In December, officials in El Salvador sentenced Aviles Perez to 20 years in prison on a charge of aggravated homicide for the execution of an MS-13 adversary, authorities there reported.
In July 2014, Aviles Perez and an accomplice named Ismael Enrique Mendoza Flores murdered a man in the town of Yucuaiquín in El Salvador’s eastern state of La Union, according to the country’s attorney general.
Aviles Perez, also known as “la bruja” or “the witch,” and his fellow gang members followed the victim and shot at him during a dispute, according to an alert issued by the country’s attorney general on Dec. 16.
Later, more henchman arrived “and forced [the victim] to stop and kneel, holding him by the shoulders, while Ismael and David arrived,” the Salvadoran prosecution’s indictment states.
The pair then “shot the victim in the chest, back, and face,” according to the attorney general’s report, which identified both men as “active members of MS-13.”
It’s unclear how or when Aviles Perez entered the US, but he first appeared on California law enforcement’s radar nearly a decade after the El Salvador murder.
On Aug. 2, 2023, Monterey police arrested Aviles Perez after he “swung a machete” at a homeless man following an argument at Laguna Grande Park near Monterey State Beach, according to an incident report obtained by The Post.
