Reputed MS-13 gang member Josue Zepeda Padilla, of Huntington Station, charged with assault, kidnapping in beating of 15-year-old boy last year, Suffolk D.A. says

A reputed member of a Huntington street gang who prosecutors say took part in the brutal beating and kidnapping of a 15-year-old boy last year was charged with the assault on Wednesday after being tracked down in North Carolina where he fled, the Suffolk County district attorney said.

Josue Zepeda Padilla, 28, of Huntington Station, pleaded not guilty to first-degree gang assault, first-degree robbery, kidnapping and other charges during a morning arraignment in Suffolk after being extradited from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where a joint fugitive task force tracked him down and arrested him on March 5, according to prosecutors.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Zepeda Padilla belongs to an offshoot of the MS-13 gang called the Huntington Criminal Locates Salvatrucha, who lured the teen to the Huntington LIRR station on Jan. 6, 2024, where they surrounded him and took his money.

Zepeda Padilla and his four associates punched the victim to the ground, where they kicked him repeatedly, prosecutors said.

The group forced the teenager into a car and drove him to an abandoned building at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in Brentwood, where they put a hood over his head and resumed beating him, then struck him in the head with a rock and stabbed him in the neck, then left him for dead, authorities said.

Badly injured but still alive, the boy managed to stumble out of the building and make it to a road, where he collapsed. A passerby found him on the road and called 911. He was taken to a hospital where the teenager underwent extensive treatment, including a craniotomy to mend his fractured skull and brain bleeding. Ultimately, the boy survived the vicious attack, prosecutors said.

Zepeda Padilla fled New York and evaded capture for more than a year until U.S. Marshals and the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Forces, including members of the Suffolk County police and district attorney’s office, tracked him to North Carolina.

He was extradited to Long Island on Tuesday.

Tierney praised the task force for bringing Zepeda Padilla back to Suffolk County.

"I want to thank our federal partners for their assistance in bringing this alleged MS-13 gang member back to Suffolk County so that he can face accountability for his actions," Tierney said. "Let it be known that we will work with every law enforcement agency in this country to track down perpetrators of gang violence."

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Senft ordered Zepeda Padilla held on $1 million cash bail.

He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the most serious offense.

His next court appearance is on April 21.

Defense attorney Anthony Rutkowski could not immediately be reached for comment.