A Montgomery County-based MS-13 gang member and illegal immigrant who allegedly stabbed a man almost to death after being released on bond following an earlier attack is now in custody in Prince William County, where his immigration status may complicate his extradition.
Milton Calderon-Melendez,25, of El Salvador, is awaiting extradition from Prince William to Montgomery to face charges of assault and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. Meanwhile, as Prince William’s policy dictates, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have already been informed of his illegal presence in the U.S.
On the night of July 18, two Montgomery County police on surveillance duty near the intersection of Lost Knife Road and Odenthall Avenue in Gaithersburg said they observed Calderon-Melendez punch Kiana Snowden, 15, in the face. He was promptly arrested and later admitted to being a member of the violent MS-13 street gang. Calderon-Melendez was then released on $2,500 bail until his trial on Aug. 17, which he never appeared for.
On Aug. 20, he and Jose Gagoberto Flores Cardova allegedly assaulted Cardova’s roommate, known only as Salguero in court documents, in their 8200 Iron Clad Court apartment in Gaithersburg.
According to police, Cardova beat Salguero in the head with a baseball bat and Calderon-Melendez stabbed him in the sternum with a knife. Police found the bloody bat and a broken knife in the house after the two had already fled.
Had Calderon-Melendez originally been arrested in Prince William, his immigration status would have been checked and he would’ve stayed in jail, Prince William County police said. But it’s not Montgomery County policy to check the immigration status of those arrested, Seth Zucker, spokesman for Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy, said.
When bail is set in Montgomery County by bail commissioners, the state’s attorney makes no argument and it is only in cases in which a suspect can’t post bail right away or bail is waived by the commissioners that the state’s attorney argues on the potential for suspect to flee, Zucker said.
Calderon-Melendez was released the day of his arrest in July, and after the August attack, he laid low until finally arrested by a Prince William County gang unit on Friday.
