WASHINGTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Two Springdale men have pleaded guilty and been sentenced for beating a minor as part of a recruiting ritual to join a Northwest Arkansas street gang.
Marco Ramirez, 21, and Sebastian Martinez, 20, were arrested in 2023 after an investigation into the operations of the Savage Locos street gang in Northwest Arkansas, which a Washington County Sheriff's Office incident report says is known to be violent and dangerous.
Court documents say Ramirez and Martinez were caught on video "beating a juvenile with [their] fists as part of a gang initiation ritual" in April 2023.
Both were charged as accomplices in soliciting or recruiting a minor to join or remain a member of a criminal gang, organization, or enterprise, and both originally pleaded not guilty.
Court documents say that on April 29, the two switched their pleas to guilty on the gang recruitment charge.
Ramirez received a five-year sentence for the gang recruitment charge. He also received various other sentences in connection to separate cases.
Martinez received a three-year sentence for the gang recruitment charge, as well as other sentences connected to other cases.
Four total arrests were carried out in connection to the gang's alleged efforts to recruit minors.
Other arrests made in connection to Savage Locos include that of Rogelio Ramirez, 29, of Springdale, who was arrested on July 24, 2023.
Rogelio, Marco's brother and the suspected leader of the Savage Locos in Northwest Arkansas, is charged with soliciting or recruiting a minor to join or to remain a member of a criminal gang, organization, or enterprise, which is a Class C felony.
Rogelio pleaded not guilty and has a trial set for June 4.
Messages found on Rogelio's phone reportedly showed that he had been recruiting juveniles from multiple schools. Detectives identified at least 10 minors Rogelio had allegedly been recruiting.
Clara Garcia, 31, of Fayetteville, was also arrested and is accused of violating juvenile records confidentiality.
Garcia, a former employee of the Washington County Juvenile Detention Center, was allegedly in communication with Rogelio while he was recruiting.
Court documents allege that Garcia mentioned the names and court dates of various boys connected to Savage Locos throughout Instagram messages with Rogelio.
“By Clara telling [Rogelio] Ramirez what days the children had court if they were housed together, confirming whether they were detained or not, I believed this to be a violation of the statute,” an incident report said.
Garcia was working in court as a juvenile probation officer at the time of her arrest.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.