VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Editor's Note: The above video is about the sentencing of Melvin Edgardo Molina-Ramos in February of 2022.
A man on Wednesday was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the gang-related murder of another man in Virginia Beach in 2018.
Prosecutors said 28-year-old William Alberto Oliva Rodriguez pleaded guilty for his role in the killing of 19-year-old Jairo Armando Sanchez-Guardado, whose body was discovered by kayakers near the shoreline of Lake Lawson/Lake Smith.
The kayakers found the body of Sanchez-Guardado on the morning of July 6, 2018, and called police. The medical examiner determined Sanchez-Guardado had been shot in the back of the head.
Investigators later determined the murder was related to MS-13 gang activity. Prosecutors said Rodriguez, along with Melvin Edgardo Molina-Ramos and three other MS-13 gang members, killed Sanchez-Guardado because they believed he was involved with a rival gang. Investigators said, however, that they could not find any evidence to support that.
Prosecutors said Molina-Ramos, a senior member of MS-13, ordered Rodriguez to take Sanchez-Guardado out on the lake under the guise of fishing. One of Rodriguez's co-defendants then shot Sanchez-Guardado in the back of the head, and Rodriguez took a picture as evidence.
Molina-Ramos threatened Rodriguez and the others with death if they failed in the killing or spoke about it afterward.
Molina-Ramos was previously convicted of the murder and is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence.
Rodriguez was sentenced on charges of second-degree murder and gang participation -- juvenile member.