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<\/p>\nMichael Angel Alvarez made headlines earlier this year when he was arrested while working as a peace ambassador for the nonprofit Healing Urban Barrios in MacArthur Park. Federal prosecutors alleged Alvarez was \u201cleading a violent street gang, while claiming to be a gang interventionist for the City.\u201d<\/p>\n
But they didn\u2019t charge him for violent or gang-related crimes.<\/p>\n
He spent three months in custody under a different charge: illegally possessing body armor. He pleaded not guilty, and a trial date was set.<\/p>\n
Alvarez was released from custody this month, nearly a week after a federal judge dismissed his case on Sept. 9, ruling that a juvenile court finding that Alvarez killed a man while a minor could not be counted as a violent felony conviction that would make owning body armor illegal.<\/p>\n
Alvarez spoke with LAist after his recent release, saying he believes the case against him was politically motivated and shows a lack of understanding about what it takes to intervene with gang members to reduce violence in communities. He acknowledged gang affiliation, but said he was not a gang leader and had not committed any crimes since being released from prison in 2024.<\/p>\n
Federal prosecutors told LAist in a statement they are looking into options to appeal a federal judge\u2019s decision to dismiss the recent indictment against Alvarez. No one from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s office in L.A. has responded to LAist\u2019s requests for comment about Alvarez\u2019s assertion that the case was politically motivated.<\/p>\n
Before the federal prosecutors filed their case against Alvarez, the L.A. County District Attorney\u2019s office filed a separate case against him on May 20 in Los Angeles Superior Court also based on possessing body armor. A preliminary hearing in that case is set for Oct. 27. He pleaded not guilty. A spokesperson for the District Attorney\u2019s office did not comment on whether they intend to continue pursuing the case now that the federal case has been dismissed.<\/p>\n
Why the federal case was dismissed<\/p>\n
Alvarez was a minor when he was found guilty of a gang-related murder in 2002. At 15 years old he was charged and tried as an adult. He was convicted of first-degree murder for shooting and killing a man in Pico-Union. He was sentenced to 50 years to life. But after a change in state law increased the age at which minors could be sentenced as adults to 16, Alvarez\u2019s case was sent back to juvenile court and he was released in 2024. At that point, he had served about 24 years.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 9, U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang found that same law that led to Alvarez\u2019s release also bars the court from considering him to have been convicted of the killing, because juvenile court determinations are not criminal convictions. Without a violent felony conviction, Alvarez is not prevented from owning body armor by state or federal law. She dismissed the federal prosecutors\u2019 case against him.<\/p>\n
What Alvarez is saying following his release<\/p>\n
In an interview with LAist last week after his release, Alvarez said he thinks federal prosecutors wanted to score political points by targeting community violence intervention work, not because he posed any risk to public safety.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aI almost got killed as a result of trying to change the community for the best,\u201d said Alvarez, who showed photos to LAist of what he described as stab wounds in his abdomen and arms that were taken in February 2025. He said that assault took place while he was working in MacArthur Park. \u201c\u200aAnd for whatever reason you had the individuals who are part of the Republican Party who went after me because of the Democrats, the people that I worked for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alvarez\u2019s former employer, Healing Urban Barrios, has not responded to LAist\u2019s requests for comment since the case was dismissed. Christina Navarro, the nonprofit\u2019s founder and executive director, said in a statement to LAist back in May of this year that Alvarez was innocent until proven guilty and that the organization was continuing its work despite the allegations against him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not stepping back,\u201d Navarro wrote in the statement. \u201cWe are doubling down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Healing Urban Barrios was contracted to work at the park by Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America\u2019s L.A. chapter. Her office says community violence intervention workers have been effective for decades in interrupting cycles of violence in ways traditional law enforcement cannot.<\/p>\n
Naomi Roochnik, a spokesperson for Hernandez, told LAist in May they were not aware of allegations against Alvarez before his arrest and that peace ambassadors are employed and supervised by community-based organizations.<\/p>\n
Alvarez was removed from the peace ambassador program earlier that same month, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will always take misconduct seriously and hold our partners to high standards, but we will not allow an individual case, or efforts to politicize it, to undermine proven community-based public safety work,\u201d Roochnik said Friday in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who heads the office that brought the case, has been critical of the city\u2019s gang intervention program.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Federal prosecutor Bill Essayli heads the U.S. Attorney’s office in L.A.<\/p>\n
(<\/p>\n
Allen J. Schaben<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Times via Getty Images<\/p>\n
)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hardworking tax payers of Los Angeles deserve better than to see their money shelled out to a convicted gang murderer,\u201d Essayli wrote on social media on May 29, the day his office announced the charge against Alvarez.<\/p>\n
Essayli was appointed by the Trump administration to lead the U.S. Attorney\u2019s office in L.A. and was previously a Republican member of the California State Assembly, where he represented part of Riverside County.<\/p>\n
Spokespersons for the U.S. Attorney\u2019s office in L.A. have continued to speak out against Alvarez since the body armor case was dismissed. In statements sent to LAist via email by spokespeople Ciaran McEvoy and Shawn Lewis, the department called Alvarez \u201da convicted murderer and a documented member of the 18th Street gang\u201d who was indicted by grand jury on the body armor charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese facts are not in dispute. It is unfortunate that he now benefits from a California law that effectively allows him to erase his murder conviction, something his victim cannot do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adding: \u201cHe has no legitimate role serving as a \u2018peace ambassador\u2019 in a public park or receiving taxpayer-funded compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The department said they are currently considering their options to appeal what they called \u201ca narrow technical legal issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
About the case<\/p>\n
Most people can legally own and wear body armor in the United States \u2014 it\u2019s typically worn as a vest, either made of durable fibers like Kevlar or with steel or ceramic inserts designed to stop bullets. It becomes illegal to own or possess body armor under federal and state law if a person has been convicted of a violent felony.<\/p>\n
But U.S. District Judge Hwang agreed with Alvarez that he did not have a violent felony conviction on his record.<\/p>\n
Alvarez admits he shot and killed 22-year-old Mauricio Miguel Masis on Aug. 17, 2000.<\/p>\n
He told LAist he was 15 and in a gang when he and a 13-year-old friend, who was not gang-affiliated, were approached by what he described as three older gang members. Masis was one of the men, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aThey’re already in their mid-20s and tried to kill both of us,\u201d Alvarez said. He told LAist he shot Masis, but claims it was to defend his friend and himself.<\/p>\n
Convicted as an adult in 2002, he could have spent his entire life in prison after being found guilty.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aI was 17 years old when I was walking Supermax,\u201d he told LAist, \u201clevel four maximum security prison.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2018, Senate Bill 1391 passed in the California legislature, to only allow minors 16 years and older to be considered for adult court.<\/p>\n
The new law gave Alvarez a way out of prison, allowing his case to be resentenced in 2024.<\/p>\n
By then he\u2019d served about 24 years. Because of his age at the time of the killing, under the change in the law his case was sent back to juvenile court where his adult conviction was set aside and he was declared a ward of the court \u2014 or under its supervision and control.<\/p>\n
Alvarez was released from prison and put on probation for two years.<\/p>\n
The following year he was also sentenced to two years of probation for a separate felony offense in November 2023 that was considered non-violent \u2014 possessing a weapon while in custody.<\/p>\n
Alvarez acknowledged having the weapon while he was in prison, and told LAist that most people had hidden weapons there, often as a deterrent from being attacked.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course I had a weapon,\u201d he said. \u201cYou would have one too if you were there. You’re trying to do everything in your power to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n
In early 2025, Alvarez began working for Healing Urban Barrios as a peace ambassador.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aThey wanted individuals who had the respect, I suppose, of the streets [and] in prison,\u201d he told LAist.<\/p>\n
Alvarez said gang members are more willing to talk with someone from their own background than with police officers or city officials, and he said he was able to speak to them to avoid violence and other safety issues around MacArthur Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s hundreds \u2014 if not thousands \u2014 of gang members who flow through that area due to the fact that a lot of them are addicts now,\u201c Alvarez said.<\/p>\n
He told LAist he believed the peace ambassadors in the area had made a difference in reducing the number of people using drugs, fighting and lighting fires in the park since he started working there in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aThere used to be a lot of fights,\u201d he said. \u201c\u200aWe’re able to talk to the guys right there and be like, \u2018Look, work something out with each other.\u2019”<\/p>\n
Alvarez showed LAist photos of people he said he had given CPR while on the job to prevent them from dying of drug overdoses and a woman he said he identified to authorities as a missing person and helped get to safety.<\/p>\n
Federal agents arrested Alvarez in May, after LAPD officers found two body armor plates in his car during a traffic stop earlier that month.<\/p>\n
Alvarez told law enforcement officers after his arrest that the plates were for an art project, court documents show, and his lawyer argued in court that Alvarez did not have a vest to wear the armor in.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors argued in court documents that he could have used the armor plates without a vest, and that he may have had a vest for the plates elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Alvarez told LAist he was planning to use his laser engravers to write poetry on the plates and his cousin was going to paint them with graffiti to get the attention of the youth he served.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith youth, especially youth that are in gangs, you gotta show them some different type of art,\u201d he said. \u201c\u200a\u200aIt would’ve hit them hard, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. Attorney\u2019s office charged Alvarez with possessing body armor. But they made additional allegations against him apart from the charges, which they have not proven in court.<\/p>\n
For instance, prosecutors claimed in court documents that Alvarez was \u201cleading a violent street gang, while claiming to be a gang interventionist for the City,\u201d and that they were investigating him for additional crimes that would carry \u201cgreat sentencing exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prosecutors alleged in court documents that members of the 18th Street gang described him as a leader of the gang in recorded jailhouse phone calls. Alvarez claimed the way the prosecutors described the conversations wasn\u2019t accurate. He told LAist he was never a gang leader and, instead, was using the respect he had with the 18th Street gang to prevent further violence.<\/p>\n
No one from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s office in L.A. responded to LAist\u2019s questions about whether they intend to pursue other charges.<\/p>\n
LAist asked Alvarez to clarify whether he was an active member during our interview last week.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aWhen you’re a gang member, for the most part, you’re always a gang member, you know?\u201d He said, \u201cThere’s two types of \u2018actives.\u2019 There’s active where you’re actively involved in the violence and all that stuff, but there’s also being active when you’re actively involved in your community, and that’s what I’ve been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
How to reach me<\/p>\n
If you have a tip, you can reach me on Signal. My username is \u00a0jrynning.56.<\/p>\n
Alvarez said he hopes to continue working in gang violence reduction programs now that the federal case against him has been dismissed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that what we did was good,\u201d he said, recalling how parents of children he had worked with around MacArthur Park reached out to thank him while he was in federal custody as his recent case was ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’d be nice to have the support all the way around and not have, especially, people who are pushing politics,\u201d Alvarez told LAist.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Hernandez\u2019 office and Healing Urban Barrios have not responded to questions about whether they would consider allowing Alvarez to return to his position as a peace ambassador.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Angel Alvarez made headlines earlier this year when he was arrested while working as a peace ambassador…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-478269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}