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One the 10 defendants in the killing of a 15-year-old from Langley Park pleaded guilty in court Thursday to "participating in gang activity resulting in death," Montgomery County's first prosecution under a 2007 state law intended to stiffen punishment for gang members.

Joel Lovo-Reyes, 28, of Bladensburg was charged with first-degree murder and other charges after his arrest in May for the stabbing death of Dennys Alfredo Guzman-Saenz, whom police and prosecutors say was abducted Jan. 18 from a bus stop near his Langley Park home, taken to a park in Gaithersburg. There, members of the 18th Street Gang stabbed him 72 times.

In Montgomery County Circuit Court last week, prosecutors said Lovo-Reyes was at a gang meeting at a Germantown apartment that night. Five other gang members went to Prince George's County in search of a member of the gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13 — 18th Street's "arch-nemesis," Assistant State's Attorney Jeffrey Wennar said.

Guzman-Saenz was not an MS-13 member but had friends who were, police say.

At Malcolm King Park, Lovo-Reyes watched some in the group "kicking, hitting and stabbing" Guzman-Saenz before they dumped his body in a creek, Wennar said.

Lovo-Reyes is the second of the 10 defendants to plead to a lesser charge. Earlier this month, Ana Abarca, 18, of Reston, Va., pleaded guilty to being an "accessory after the fact," which carries a five-year maximum sentence.

Judge Louise G. Scrivener delayed Lovo-Reyes's sentencing until December. The charge carries a 20-year maximum sentence.

Police say Lovo-Reyes did not go to Prince George's or ride in the car that took Guzman-Saenz to the park. Citing his secondary role in the death, his lawyer, David K. Felsen of Rockville, expects less than the maximum sentence. The plea serves as "recognition of Mr. Lovo-Reyes's lesser role in these events," Felsen said in an interview.

Later Thursday, prosecutors filed charges of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder against Ana Villatoro of Washington, D.C., who was 16 at the time of Guzman-Saenz's death.

Police say she was one of the five who went to Langley Park and helped get Guzman-Saenz in the car.

Villatoro had not entered a plea as of Tuesday morning, according to her attorney, Gary Gerstenfield of Silver Spring.

"Her family is deeply involved and we want to make sure she gets the help and treatment that she needs," Gerstenfield said.

When she was arrested, she told police that she was a freshman at Woodrow Wilson Senior High School in the District and was living with her mother.

The state's attorney office would not comment on why Villatoro was not facing a "gang participation" charge.

Also charged in the case is Daniel Abizai Zabala, 26. He will first be prosecuted for murder and assault in D.C. Superior Court for separate gang-motivated stabbings.

Six other gang members were indicted June 18 for first-degree murder and other charges. They are slated to be tried together. Wennar asked for the trial to begin at the end of November, saying he expects it to take three weeks. A scheduling hearing is set for Thursday.

One defendant, Joel Yonathan Ventura-Quintanilla, 22, has pleaded not guilty and wants a separate trial.

Ventura-Quintanilla — who told police he had escaped from an El Salvadoran prison, where he was being held on murder and drug trafficking charges — was charged in two other Montgomery County incidents since his arrest in Guzman-Saenz's death: armed robbery of a Germantown convenience store in February and an April assault at a party at a Germantown apartment, where he threatened to kill someone and bragged about having "butchered" a young male in Gaithersburg, according to court records. He also faces charges for having a concealed weapon (a 12-inch knife) and lying to an officer when he was arrested May 7.

"Unless something crazy happens, we will be going to trial and we'll be contesting the charges," said Assistant Public Defender Samuel Delgado, who is representing Ventura-Quintanilla.