Columbus police have charged 16 officers in an investigation into drug trafficking by street gangs

On By Pranco

Columbus police announced the arrest of 16 people on drug and gang charges, the culmination of a two-year investigation into a street gang on the far east side of Columbus.

The yearlong investigation, dubbed “Operation Pocket Aces,” targeted members of the “Livingston & Lonsdale Bloods” or “Woodcrest Bloods” street gangs, a local Bloods set that calls Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant “one of the most dangerous and disruptive criminals ‘ mentioned. organizations in our community” at a news conference on Tuesday announcing the charges.

According to a more than 100-page indictment, gang members trafficked fentanyl, cocaine, oxycodone, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana while carrying firearms. The members were charged with 149 separate criminal offences.

“This indictment represents a clear message to violent perpetrators everywhere that criminal activity will not go unpunished,” Bryant said at a news conference Tuesday at the intersection of East Livingston Avenue and Lonsdale Road.

Most of the 16 defendants face charges of non-violence, drugs, firearms and corruption. Two have been charged with violent crimes: one person was charged with attempted murder, a charge against Gang Unit Sgt. Shawn Gruber said this was taken from a previous case and another involving a felony. One person received only one conspiracy charge.

Police executed more than 20 search warrants and found 56 firearms, including two with switches installed to make them fully automatic – more than $156,000 in cash and a significant amount of street drugs.

Gruber said the gang members sometimes trafficked drugs near schools, making the punishments harsher.

Bryant said he expects more of these types of operations.

“We will continue to use all tools at our disposal, including intelligence sharing, surveillance and coordination with our federal, local and state partners,” Bryant said. “We are committed to ruthlessly prosecuting those who profit from crime and threaten the safety of our community.”

Previous raids on Hilltop indicated a major undercover investigation

Columbus police hinted at the operation during a drug bust in the Hilltop last month. On Oct. 17, police arrested 27 people at a home on the 100 block of Whitethorne Avenue and found drugs including fentanyl and methamphetamine. Police identified most of the people detained, checked for arrest warrants and immediately released them.

On that day, Columbus police executed search warrants at five different properties. Police said the arrest was part of a larger investigation by the department’s gang unit. Complaints from the community about drug dealing and prostitution prompted police to investigate the house on Whitethorne.

Normally, police do not make knowledge of such raids public, said Sgt. James Fuqua said at the time. Police released information about the Whitethorne arrest because local media, including the Dispatch, heard police radio that more units would be arriving to deal with the dozens of people arrested.

Who are the Livingston & Lonsdale Bloods?

The 16 were members of a street gang based near the intersection of Livingston and Lonsdale streets in Columbus, a small subgroup of the Bloods.

The Bloods are a street gang founded in Los Angeles in the 1970s. It consists of several smaller ‘sets’ such as the Livingston & Lonsdale Bloods and is known for its rivalry with the Crips, another network of gangs.

While most of the charges against the 16 Columbus men involved drugs, weapons and extortion, the Woodcrest Bloods have been involved in previous violent crimes. Member since 2012 was convicted of serious murder in the drive-by shooting of a member of the Elaine Crips, a rival local street gang.

Alex Ferguson, then 17 years old, was riding in a car with other Woodcrest Bloods members when he saw Tyrone Malcolm, 18, walking with another member of the Elaine Crips on January 23, 2010. Ferguson had the driver turn the car around and killed Malcolm fatally shot, prosecutors said in court.

Ferguson was tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2034.

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