SLAY RAP IN DEATH OF MS-13 VIC'S MA
Anti-gang crusaderusader mmowed down
The Long Island woman who fatally mowed down the mother of an MS-13 victim after trying to dismantle a memorial to the slain teen was indicted Friday on criminal charges.
AnnMarie Drago, 58, was charged with criminally negligent homicide and other counts in the Sept. 14 death of Evelyn Rodriguez, 50, who became a national voice against gang violence after the 2016 murder of her daughter and was a guest of President Trump at the State of the Union.
Drago turned herself in to authorities Friday morning and was later arraigned in Suffolk County District Court, where she pleaded not guilty and was released without bail.
In the indictment, prosecutors say Drago wanted to de- stroy the memorial rial dedicated to Roddriguez’s 16-yearrold daughter, r, Kayla Cuevas, , because the setup was hurting the property y value of Drago’s mother’s Brenttwood home.
Rodriguez wass fa-fatally struck by Drago while preparingg a candlelight vigil at the spot and getting into a dispute with her.
Rodriguez’s death occurred two years to the day that her daughter’s body was discovered in a wooded area off the same block.
Local residents have told The Post that the driver who mowed down Rodriguez had been trying for months to sell the vacant home adjacent to the memorial — and she’d been blaming mourners who visited the area for her inability to unl unload Prosecutors the property. cconfirmed the sscenario Friday aand revealed that the home actually belonged to Drago’s mother. Prosecutors said DrDrago was so upset aboabout the memorial that sshe tried swiping items from it and destroying the display before her fatal showdown with Rodriguez. Wearing sunglasses, Drago said nothing to reporters after her arraignment. “She is walking free and will be able to celebrate the holidays with her family. Meanwhile, Evelyn’s family won’t have that,” seethed Liz Cordero, a friend of Rodriguez’s who attended the arraignment. “Where is her moral compass?” Cordero said. “How can and anyone say, ‘I have am going that oP cold to destroy heart this memorial.’ Kids were murdered there.”
Cuevas and her best friend, Nisa Mickens, 15, were walking down a tree-lined street in Brentwood when they were murdered by MS-13 gang thugs armed with baseball bats and a machete. Six gang members have been charged with their deaths.
Cuevas had been involved in “a series of disputes” with MS-13 members in the months before her murder, federal prosecutors have said.
The dispute escalated a week before her slaying, when Cuevas and several friends got into an argument with the MS-13 thugs at her school.
“After that incident, the MS-13 members vowed to seek revenge against Cuevas,” a federal complaint states.