Does Caroline County have a gang problem?

By Greg Glassner / CP Senior Correspondent

This is part one of a special report on gang-related activity, a topic central to a number of news stories emanating from Caroline County over the past several years.

This has surprised and even shocked many residents of this county, who had little idea that organized gangs existed in this largely rural and suburban society.

Caroline County Sheriff’s Office investigator, M. M. “Mack” Ellett has testified in many of the local court cases involving gang activity and is regarded as a leading authority on street gangs in general.

To understand more about these gangs and what they mean to us, the CP submitted a number of questions to Sgt. Ellett. The following “Q and A” contains these questions and Ellett’s detailed responses, although some material has been edited or shortened to fit the newspaper’s format and space availability.

 

Q: How common is gang activity in Caroline County?

A: Compared to the surrounding jurisdictions (Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania/Hanover) the gang activity in Caroline County is very low. Compared to similar-sized rural jurisdictions throughout Virginia, Caroline County is about average in membership numbers but still comparably much lower in violent activities.

 

Q: What was the situation locally two years ago?

A: Two years ago the largest organized criminal street gang within Caroline County was the 59 BRIM (Fire Gangsta Brim Set). This group was part of a national organization that was West Coast based. Their activities in Caroline County were minimal due to several factors: The group held meetings and primarily recruited membership out of Henrico County. Due to that fact, and that membership meetings were held outside of Caroline County, the 59BRIM committed crimes primarily in Henrico and the City of Richmond City. In addition, these gang members had been identified and approached by CCSO and the Henrico Police Department, so the leadership was aware that they were known to law enforcement and subject to investigation in Caroline County.

However, in retaliation to the shooting of a juvenile family member in 2007, the head of the 59Brim (Jessee Morris) and several other members were involved in a drive-by shooting in Caroline County, the CCSO investigated this shooting and Jesse Morris and his brother J’uan Morris accepted plea bargains in Caroline County Circuit Court. Several of the other members of the gang were involved in home invasions (not committed in Caroline) and were convicted in King William and Henrico. These joint investigations between CCSO and the Henrico Gang Task Force, along with King William, significantly damaged the gang and reduced the active leadership by almost 80 percent.

 

1. Was the situation different earlier this year?
2. With the arrests of a major portion of the 59Brim Set, two ex-members formed a different gang, MOB30. The formation of this gang led to multiple conflicts with another newly formed gang YG4. These two gangs initially coexisted fairly peacefully and membership was a loose affiliation with youth involved in both sets. The leadership of the two gangs began arguing and fights and eventually shootings erupted. All of the YG4 members involved in the shooting were caught, provided admissions and statements on each other and were subsequently convicted. The MOB30 members who were the targets of the shootings were already under investigation by CCSO and were arrested and convicted on different charges.

 

1. How has the situation changed in the wake of these successful investigations and court cases?
2. Within the past two years the CCSO investigations have led to the arrests and successful prosecutions of six members of MOB30, six members of YG4 and three of their associates. One other youth gang member is currently scheduled for trial. These arrests and prosecutions of both young adult and juvenile gang members have significantly damaged the organization of both gangs. The gangs are still active and are subjects of multiple current investigations.

 

Q: How many gangs are there?

A: YG4 (Dawn-Based), MOB30 (Bowling Green-based), 25 (Campbell’s Creek area) are the organized youth gangs within Caroline County.

However there are other gang members within our community. These gang members typically formed their alliances while in prison and were identified by the Department of Corrections. Most of these members had no gang affiliation prior to being sentenced to prison and joined their gang as a form of personal protection while incarcerated. Typically these gang members do not maintain active membership after incarceration due to the fact they were simply in a “prison gang” and are no longer around the membership. CCSO has maintained a close watch on these “prison gang” members and keeps open investigative files if gang or other criminal activity is suspected.

 

Q: How many members (on average) does each gang have (or had)?

A: YG4 (25-30), MOB30 (20-25), 25 (10-20).

 

Q: What sorts of criminal activity are these gangs involved in?

A: With the exception of the now extinct 59BRIM Set, the gangs are personal affiliations which represent unity within a particular peer group. While some of the members are involved in narcotics sales the primary recruitment is based upon geographical disputes or familial-peer bonding. Several members do have personal, family and criminal histories of involvement with illegal narcotics.

Rural youth street gangs (neighborhood gangs) are formed based upon mutual alliances and spend a majority of their time “defending turf” and fighting with rivals. National criminal street gangs are more involved in illicit criminal enterprises such as narcotics trade, prostitution and other racketeering activities. The gangs represented in Caroline County are youth/neighborhood street gangs.

 

Q: What is the method of recruitment these gangs use to fill their ranks and what do young men or women find attractive about gang membership? Are these dead-end kids or just bored with life?

A: Gang recruitment is often generational, or by siblings and other friends or relatives. However, the sense of belonging to a group for a teenager is often the main attraction. The glorified lure of being part of a “cool group” that has dreams and aspirations of being music stars or big time gangsters with money and videos is too often irresistible to a young person. The irony is the children do not know that the reality is that this new affiliation typically leads to injury, death or incarceration.

The idea of being part of the group means you feel less vulnerable than as a single individual. These are not dead end kids with no real future, there is no such thing as a “dead-end child.” Many of these gang members come from good homes with parents that more than adequately provide for their needs. The lure comes from gang recruitment tactics by current members. CCSO spends a great deal of time and effort within the School Resource programs to keep children away from gangs and to teach children the tactics gang members use for recruitment.

Rural life does not always afford children the opportunity for after-school and summer activities especially for children with working parents or families who lack the means of transportation. The gang culture is glorified on television and in social media and quite often young gang members are recruited because they believe this will lead to excitement in their lives and are too young to realize the potential negative repercussions.

 

Q: How do our country-cousin gangs in Caroline differ from gang activity in Richmond, Washington, D.C., New York City and Los Angeles, for example?

A: The most dangerous gang member is the new gang member because they are looking to prove themselves. In this sense there are no differences between gangs in rural areas versus gangs in urban areas related to the threat posed to the community. However the urban gang structure typically has members well into their adult years who exploit juveniles to commit serious crimes for the financial benefit of the gang. Rural youth gangs tend to be more for the mutual protection against other groups and lack the organizational structure and financial means for the commission of racketeering crimes.

 

Editor’s Note: Greg Glassner’s special report on gang activity in Caroline County continues next week with details on local ties to gangs in metro Richmond.