Federal District Court Judge Pedro Delgado Hernández in Hato Rey has scheduled a hearing for September 11 at which notorious drug trafficker and 'La Lorenzana' gang leader Nelson Torres Delgado, known as 'El Burro,' is expected to plead guilty. Torres Delgado will be transferred to the island from a prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the hearing. The date was set after defense attorneys, former federal prosecutor María Domínguez and Víctor Abreu, revealed last Friday that they reached a plea agreement with the federal prosecution. Details of the deal have not been disclosed, though such agreements typically reduce charges and sentences.
The judge ordered the agreement be submitted on or before August 29, though that does not mean it will be made public then. The deal follows an April decision to drop pursuit of the death penalty against him. Torres Delgado, also allegedly known as 'El Animal de Cuatro Patas,' faced 10 federal charges including conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, weapons possession for drug trafficking, and murder, plus distribution of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and fentanyl. He was charged with two murders, of R.M.O. and G.A.H., amid drug trafficking power struggles.
Puerto Rico's police commissioner has linked him to the 2022 murder of retired Yabucoa teacher Margarita Rodríguez Morales and a massacre in Cidra. His gang is suspected of multiple killings and drug sales in Caguas, Cayey, Cidra and nearby towns since 2010.