Morales, 22, previously pleaded guilty in the beating of a man he knew on Northampton's bike path.
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NORTHAMPTON -- By the time he allegedly shot a city man and left his body burning off a dirt road in Hatfield, Nerkin Morales had already amassed a criminal record and a status as a reputed gang member and the subject of complaints at a public housing project, according to court documents.
Morales, 22, was one of eight people indicted on a total of 51 counts last week in connection with the death of Daniel Cruz, whose body was found on the night of March 10.
Prosecutors say Morales, charged with murder and other crimes, shot Cruz three times during an altercation at the Meadowbrook apartment complex, and that his seven co-defendants helped in an attempted cover-up.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Suhl has said Morales and Cruz knew each other, and that the shooting took place after an argument with another co-defendant, Pedro Soto-Rodriguez, turned physical.
Morales pleaded not guilty to the charges against him at his arraignment in Hampshire Superior Court Wednesday morning. He was ordered held without bail and is currently in custody at the Hampshire County jail.
Court records dating to 2015 reviewed by The Republican show Morales -- who was also arrested twice in the three months after the slaying -- has a history of arrests and an alleged affiliation with a gang known as MOH.
Some of his prior brushes with the law also involved other co-defendants in the Cruz case, such as Soto-Rodriguez -- an apparent longtime associate who is also an alleged member of the gang.
Northampton police have previously said MOH, which either stands for "Money Over Haters" or "Money Over Hoes," largely operates out of Meadowbrook at 491 Bridge Road in the Florence section of the city -- a location Morales, Soto-Rodriguez and other co-defendants have been known to frequent or have lived, according to court documents.
In a February 2017 police report for a drug arrest involving Soto-Rodriguez, a Northampton detective says he'd previously investigated Soto-Rodriguez and others "for being involved in gang activity under the gang name 'MOH' ... at the Meadowbrook Apartment Complex."
According to witness statements, that activity included the "distribution of narcotics" out of Meadowbrook.
The same report says management at Meadowbrook previously told police that Soto-Rodriguez, Morales and others had been the subjects of "numerous complaints."
MOH members, including Morales, are also alleged to have been involved in the December 2014 beating of a man who police said was once associated with the gang, court documents show.
Morales, who was 18 at the time, and five juveniles "associated with the gang" were indicted for assault and battery and intimidation of a witness after an 18-year-old was "beaten by a group of six males" on the bike path near Meadowbrook apartments.
The victim, who is listed in the police report as a "friend" of Morales, was allegedly labeled a "snitch" and beaten by the gang after giving information to police about another open case involving an MOH member.
Morales pleaded guilty to assault and battery in the case and was sentenced to 1 year in jail. However, the balance of the sentence was suspended and he ended up serving 90 days.
Morales has also been the subject of police reports alleging threats and assaults involving a girlfriend and family members.
A criminal complaint from July 2017 says a witness saw Morales "choking" his girlfriend. Though charges in the case were later dropped, a police officer said in an associated report that he was familiar with the couple, and had previously responded to their residence for domestic disturbances.
The report also says the woman had obtained two separate restraining orders against Morales, and that Morales had been arrested earlier that year for an alleged assault and battery on a family member at their address.
Recent arrests
Suhl's May 16 announcement that there were two lead suspects in Cruz's death came 14 days before the second of Morales' two arrests after the slaying.
On May 30, members of the Northwestern district attorney's Anti-Crime Task Force arrested Morales and Josh Ealy, a co-defendant in the Cruz case, at Meadowbrook. Both men pleaded not guilty to charges involving heroin, cocaine and unlawful possession of ammunition.
That arrest followed a March 26 traffic stop on Interstate 91 in Holyoke, when state police allegedly found Morales and Soto-Rodriguez in a car with heroin, bags of crack cocaine and a bag of firearms and ammunition that included an AK-47 rifle.
The two were jailed, and Morales' bail was set at $10,000. Another co-defendant in the Cruz case subsequently posted the bail and Morales was allowed to go free.
That case has since been transferred from Holyoke District Court to Hampden Superior Court, where both men are scheduled to appear for a final pretrial hearing on March 10, 2019.
Despite Morales' alleged gang ties, Suhl said last week that Cruz's slaying does not appear to be gang related.
"I wouldn't say that that necessarily is the element to this particular murder," she said.