mid ohio valley ms 13 (Charleston, Parkersburg: work, home, gangs)

[petey b.]

my grand daughter is doing a school report on street gangs and goggled m s 13 and found a post that there were some in parkersburg w va area any truth to this? hope not but sounded true thanks in advance

[mtneeratheart]

As a former resident of West Virginia now living in the DC area i can pretty much assure you that there will be no MS-13 gang in Parkersburg or any other city in the state. MS-13 members primarily consist of immigrants from El Salvador and a few other Latin American nations. So unless there was a recent mass influx of El Salvadorean immigrants into West Virginia that I somehow missed, then you have nothing to fear. They are in a lot of places in the DC area and I never worry, there main conflicts are always with other rival gangs.

[PhoenixOrion]

Originally Posted by jfronz

As a former resident of West Virginia now living in the DC area i can pretty much assure you that there will be no MS-13 gang in Parkersburg or any other city in the state. MS-13 members primarily consist of immigrants from El Salvador and a few other Latin American nations. So unless there was a recent mass influx of El Salvadorean immigrants into West Virginia that I somehow missed, then you have nothing to fear. They are in a lot of places in the DC area and I never worry, there main conflicts are always with other rival gangs.

Don't be so sure of that. Just do a Google search for 'MS-13, West Virginia' and you'll see reports of their rapidly growing presence here. Although I've never heard or read of them being farther down into the state, they are definitely in the eastern panhandle (charles town, harpers ferry area).

[mtneeratheart]

true and after i made that comment i remembered back when i spent my first year in college back at Shepherd and some locals mentioning they would come out from Northern VA/Maryland for more private meetings. I guess I should've said the main parts of WV as that is more suburban DC area and vastly different from the remainder of the state. I wouldn't be surprised if some start moving out due to the lower living costs, I remembered a lot of hispanic immigrants worked at the race track and in the local construction industry. But to the OP in Parkersburg, I wouldn't worry at all about any local presence.

[Silkdashocker]

I wouldn't doubt they have a small presence in WV. You need to remember, the MOV is a farming area, and that attracts some Central American immigrants, particularly to Ravenswood area.

[mtneeratheart]

I'm not so sure I agree, there may be somewhat of a wanna be MS-13 gang mentality in parts of the Parkersburg area but I just don't see how there would be an MS-13 presence there. MS-13 isn't known for existing outside of major metropolitan areas, their main concentrations are in Southern California and the Washington DC area, places with massive Central American immigrant populations.

The hispanic population in WV is practically non existant except for in parts of the Eastern Panhandle closest to DC and even then their numbers aren't that significant. When I go home to visit family in Charleston I am constantly amazed that there is no visible hispanic presence, minus the 2 or 3 you might encounter at a mexican restaurant, that doesn't really count. Parkersburg has even less "diversity" than Charleston mainly because of its smaller population. Don't sweat it, you're fine WV is probably one of the safest places to live in the country...

[Threerun]

We heard stories of MS-13 frequeting Charles Town races and Slots on the weekends. The car loads of thugs with bandannas, symbols on the cars and other such insignia I used to see on Rt. 340 heading towards the track certainly seemed to back that assertion up.

But then again people say thats stereotyping.

[snorpus]

If there's MS-13 around Parkersburg, they're probably pretty lonely. Maybe they're called MS-.13 in WV

According to the 2006 Census estimate, only 0.6% of the Wood County population is Hispanic/Latino. Since the county population (estimated) is about 86,600, the total Hispanic/Latino population in the county is about 520.

In Parkersburg itself, the percentage is 0.8% of ~32,000, or about 255.

The total state percentage is 0.9% of 1.8 million, or about 16,000.

I'll buy an MS-13 presence in the EP, due to the proximity of DC, but I'm pretty skeptical about the rest of the state.

[Silkdashocker]

Nice info snorpus. However your stats still don't rule out the possibility of there being copycats in the MOV (Mid Ohio Valley)

[Janipoo]

From what I heard, there presence is in almost every state. some have more and some less.